Right Claw of the Dragon King 2: The Return
by chaosphoenix123
Summary: The Tenrou group is back and struggling to adjust to everything that has happened since their "deaths". But now Acnologia is on the move, the Magic Council and the Royal Family are flexing their might, and Ikaruga is preparing for round two. All while Romeo is trying to deal with both Chelia AND Wendy.
1. Battlefield Tenrou

**Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail**

**A/N: So I decided to use the last chapter from the first story to start up the sequel. **_**I hope to get to this more early next year once I do some chapters for "Elemental Summoner" and "Last Fire Mage"**_

**Please Review, Fav, or Follow if you want.**

**Also check out _Fiery Hurricane of Love, The Wild Master, and A Child of Fire and Brimstone._**

**Chapter 1**

**Battlefield Tenrou**

When she awoke little over an hour ago, Wendy found herself alone near the shoreline, the smoothing waves waking her up from her unexpected sleep as they splash over her feet. She quickly notices that Carla, Natsu, Lucy, and the others were nowhere to be seen though she did pick up faint traces of their scent.

Also, she noticed off-handily that she was missing one of her armbands but despite the emotional attachment she had to it, it was the least of her worries at the moment.

Anyway, she began to track the closest scents to her which she determined to be Elfman, Levy, and Cana when she intercepted a strange scent. Instantly, she was reminded of Acnologia and her dread rose to a considerable amount for she was alone and in no position to do anything against him, but a moment later she realized that the smell was much too faint to be him and she didn't feel his overwhelming magical presence either; instead, she felt a small beacon of his magic.

Going against her basic instincts telling her to run, (though a faint voice in her head was telling her the opposite) she reluctantly decided to investigate whatever was given off this scent instead of finding the others, though she made a note of the direction they were in case things spiral out of control.

Moving quickly she followed the scent, tracking it across the island as it seemed to move more inland. She paused when she saw a beam of light, eerily similar to the one she saw Acnologia use shot up into the sky but after seeing that it was far smaller and weaker than the beast she press on with her hunt, though another thought did occur to her.

Where was Acnologia? Master Mavis' plan may have work but why would the dragon just up and leave after just one try?

These were the questions she asked herself as she moved closer to her objective because as far as she knew, no more than an hour or two had gone by since Acnologia's attack going off the position of the sun.

Pretty soon she felt another burst of Acnologia's magic being shot off and she heard a large explosion follow behind it, and Wendy dreaded that whoever she was tracking may have gotten into a fight with Natsu or one of the others and she had a gut feeling that anyone who was wielding Acnologia's magic much be a powerful mage in their own right.

She also worried that the dragon was lurking nearby somewhere just waiting to attack again.

Eventually, she came to a small cliff that overlooked a clearing in the middle of the forest and her nose told her that whoever she was tracking was approaching fast. Choosing the safer method of just observing this person Wendy laid down on the ground and took a peek over the edge just as she heard the sound of footsteps indicating that someone had entered the clearing and what she saw surprised her so much she had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from gasping aloud.

For the person who appeared out of the forest was a boy who was probably no older than herself, but he absolutely reeked of the Acnologia's stench and she could feel a minor presence of the dragon within the boy. Just by sensing his presence alone Wendy could tell that he wasn't someone to take lightly. Though in the deepest confines of her mind, she had to admit that with his spiky purple hair, black eyes, and open vest showing off his upper body, he was actually pretty attractive.

She stops that train of thought immediately, mentally berating herself for even thinking of such a thing. This boy was almost undoubtedly working for Acnologia and yet here she was admiring his physical features. She briefly wonders if any of the other girls felt like this sometime, admiring the enemy and all.

She could already imagine the scowling Carla would give her if she ever found out about this.

Back to the matter at hand, she noticed the boy sniffing the air in a matter similar to the way she and the other Fairy Tail dragon-slayers did; basically answering the question whether or not this boy was a dragon-slayer as well. But then he started scanning the area and Wendy was barely able to get her head down in time to avoid being seen. She stays down for a few moments, hoping to whoever was listening that he didn't see her.

After a moment the sounds of footsteps could be heard but they were moving away from her and the girl lets out a quiet sigh of relief.

"An armband?", she heard suddenly and her heart drop into her stomach. She peers her head up over the cliff just enough to see the boy and once more a sense of dread wash over her as she witnesses the boy leaning over to pick was undoubtedly her missing armband.

A thousand different scenarios flooded her mind as she watches the boy study the piece of fabric, none of them good in any way whatsoever. No doubt he would now have her scent and being to track her across the island. Even worse, what if he found the others while doing so? Sure, Natsu, Ezra and some of the stronger mages along with Master Makarov might be fine despite their injuries, but what about the others like Lucy and Lisanna? How would they hold up against him especially seeing that the boy was holstering what seems to be a large dagger on the back of his waist?

What if he found Carla, who was basically covered in her scent?

It was at that moment another thought pop into her head, one that made Wendy start to actually shake in fear.

What if this boy wasn't the only one? What if there were others like him on the island looking for her and the others?

What if he took that armband to Acnologia himself?

That last thought almost made Wendy scream for the mere thought of her having to face that monstrosity alone was almost more than she could bear.

She had to think of something fast; better yet, she had to do something fast. Could she get to Cana and the others in time to warn them, maybe they could help her subdue the boy? No, no way that boy was still going to be here when they got back even if Wendy got to them in time.

No, she had to do something right here and now, but what? While she was better off than the others she still had some injuries from her fights with Grimoire Heart and Acnologia and haven't had time to fully recover yet.

As if on cue a slight pain shoots through her body causing the girl to clench her teeth in response.

If she was to fight the boy head-on her time would be limited before her injuries took a major toll on her. She would have to strike hard and fast and defeat him within five, maybe ten minutes at best before she had to stop.

The boy was still looking at the armband and from where Wendy was laying, seem to be lost in thought for some reason, completely unaware of his surroundings.

This was her chance. This was the prime opportunity that she wasn't going to get again. If the boy was indeed a dragon-slayer of Acnologia then that meant he had a number of advantages that a normal mage wouldn't have just like she did. If she was able to launch a preemptive attack that negated those advantages while she was still able to keep hers she would have the upper hand, but what could she do?

Her offensive magic wasn't as strong as the others and she doubts that a direct roar would knock him out instantly, especially at this distance. No, she needed to be closer to use her spells to their fullest effect. Maybe if she focuses on her support spells and used them in conjunction with her offensive spells she may just pull through.

She quickly looks at the nearby surroundings, looking for anything that could help her out and that was when she spotted it. Almost directly in front of the boy was a large patch of loose dirt that expanded nearly the entire clearing. If she could launch one of her spells, her roar would be the best bet, then she could kick up a cloud of dirt that would take away his sight and smell while she could manipulate the air around her to keep the dirt away from her and be able to find him in the ensuing chaos.

Along with using her support spells effectively, she just might be able to defeat him quickly in hand-to-hand, despite her wounds.

Wendy lets out a breath as she steels her resolve. She then stood up and braces herself, all while the boy was still lost in his thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, she unleashes her attack aim directly at the ground in front of the boy.

"**_Sky Dragon's Roar!"_**

**_Meanwhile_**

"You know, I must admit I wasn't planning on you being alive, Pantherlily", Bana states as he blocks a slash from the Musicia Blade with the other short sword that Romeo lost in the forest, "But then again I guess fate won't let either one of us die until we settle our business with each other."

Instead of answering with words, Pantherlily performs a thrust aim directly at Bana's chest to which the silver exceed merely parries out of the way and counter with a thrust of his own, the only difference was that this was aim at Pantherlily's head.

The former Royal Captain leans to his left and allows the blade to pass by him before shoulder checking Bana in his chest with such force that it sent him staggering backward.

"Well, well", Bana coughs as he recovers himself, "It would seem the honorable former co-captain of the Extalia Army elite forces has learned a trick or two since our last meeting; another thing I didn't see coming."

Pantherlily merely glares at the exceed before for a time, taking in the entirety of his appearance.

"I don't recall cutting your tongue out when we last fought; if you have something to say, say it", Bana states.

"What are you doing here on Tenrou, Bana? We all thought you died when you with through the Anima", Pantherlily finally spoke as he points his sword at him.

"Ah, yes. I remember that", Bana reminisces, "I was the test subject for that little venture. Tell me, what did the mighty Queen Shagotte ever use that for, huh? I would have gone to that little village they set up to ask her myself but I have been quite busy as of late serving my master. I believe you're quite familiar with him, Pantherlily. He did try to destroy this island."

Pantherlily's eyes widen in surprise for a moment before narrowing in disgust, "You serve that monster?"

"That monster is my master and he saved my life when I came hurling out of the Anima and found myself dying in a foreign land no thanks to you and the queen. My life force was nearly drained by that accursed contraption and Acnologia found me and gave me a second chance", Bana replies, "And unlike you, I will uphold the debt I owe to someone who saved my life."

"I never asked for your help that day", Pantherlily tells him.

"But you got it regardless and because of that you lived long enough to betray me", Bana says as he readies himself, his black wings appearing on his back, "So much for your honor."

"You're the last one to berate me about honor!", Pantherlily snaps as he slashes the air before pointing his sword at Bana once more, "Especially since you can't seem to let the past go!"

"Because I saw the path she was leading us down?! Because I saw through her lies and deceits unlike you and the rest of those pompous idiots?! I thought Nichiya was a fool but your ignorance on the matter of Queen Shagotte and her powers only showed me that you were an even bigger one!" Bana shouts, baring his fangs while doing so, "I saw the writing on the wall unlike you! I saw with my own two eyes the humans grow stronger and stronger with each passing day while we blindly believed that our mighty queen was a goddess and would protect us!"

Pantherlily stares at Bana in silence.

"Believe or not, I can let the past go. I have moved on since swearing myself to Acnologia.", Bana presses on, "The one thing I can't let go though is your betrayal and my chance to avenge it; an opportunity I thought was taken from me but now I get to enact it and this time I will give you more than just a scar on the eye."

With those words, Bana becomes encased in a prism of bright light and a moment later he was in his Battle Mode, the short sword still in his hand.

Pantherlily merely grunted as he too shifted into his battle mode while the Musicia Blade extended as well and soon enough both of the huge exceeds were once again glaring at one another.

"This brings back memories", Bana says, "The Twin Towers of the Extalia Army, Captain Bana, and Captain Pantherlily, the co-commanders of the elite forces. Weren't we a pair?

Bana then eyes the Musicia Blade, "Ah, your new sword also grows, does it? This will be exciting."

"Do you truly think you can defeat me with just that dagger?", Pantherlily questions while motioning his head toward the weapon in Bana's hand.

"It's actually a short sword, but yes, I completely believe I can defeat you with just this", Bana reassures him, "The reason being that unlike you who only decided to focus on the sword, I trained in a variety of weapons, such as the zweihander, the guandao, dual short swords, and the chain whip."

"But you only have one short sword", Pantherlily pointed out.

"It makes no difference", Bana said dismissively, "It's more than enough to defeat you."

Pantherlily shakes his head in anger, "So be it", as he readies his sword, "Let's put an end to this blood feud of ours."

"Gladly", Bana smiles as he too prepares, "And let's make this quick, I have a boy somewhere on this island I need to find before he gets himself in over his head."

**Wendy and Romeo**

The girl slowly lowers her hand at the sound of her name, eyeing Romeo with a perplex expression.

"Wendy?", Romeo says again as he slowly got up, "Is that really you? How are you-?", is all he had time to ask before the girl in question brings her hand back up and releases her spell.

"Ah, crap!", Romeo screams as he rolls out of the way in order to avoid a direct hit but still got caught up in the area effect of a small tornado hitting the ground so close to him. He was flung into the air a couple of feet and hits the forest floor with a thud, landing on his stomach and nearly hitting a tree in the process.

"Okay, that didn't go as planned", he groans right before the hairs on his neck stood up and he once again rolls out of the way to avoid getting stomp on by the Sky Dragon-Slayer who landed with a crash in the very spot the boy previously occupant. Rolling up to a standing position, Romeo readies himself for another bout with the girl he thought was long dead.

"Wendy! It's me, Romeo!", he tries to say before leaning back in order to dodge swipe from one of her **_Sky Dragon's Crushing _**attack, a trail of slashing winds following behind her fingertips as they pass only inches away from his face, "Calm down and listen for a moment!"

But Wendy does no such thing as she then uses her other hand to strike at Romeo's expose chest with an open palm, but the First Cataclysm strikeout and grabs her wrist, stopping her attack from hitting its mark.

"Listen, that little dust trick from earlier was clever and all, but without it, you're not going to beat me in a straight-up fight!", Romeo tells her as he puts an iron grip on her wrist, making Wendy unable to break free of it, "So calm down and listen to me!"

Using her still freehand, the Sky Dragon-Slayer throws a punch at the boy's face, only for that too to be casually caught by Romeo as well.

"I don't want to hurt you, Wendy, trust me, I don't. But if you're not going to calm down and hear me out, I may have to get rough with y-", he started to explain only to be cut off by the girl backflipping and striking both her feet into his chin as she flips over. Releasing her from his grip as he tumbles backward, Romeo regains his balance just in time to dive out of the way of Wendy's follow-up spell.

"**_Sky Dragon's Roar!", _**as a contained hurricane erupts from Wendy's mouth and tears through the forest surrounding the pair, upheaving trees, rocks, and other objects in its path and sending it scattering about.

And if only by the slimmest of chances one of those objects happen to be the very blade that was kicked out of Romeo's hand at the start of the duel. It spun in a circle high above the forest floor, its deadly edge so sharp that the whistling noise it was making made it sound like it was cutting through the very air itself while its surface reflected the sunlight in all directions. Right before it hit the ground though a hand reaches out and catches it in a reverse grip as the winds die down throughout the area.

"Okay, Wendy", Romeo says in a neutral tone that matched his eyes as he brought the blade close to his chest, "It has been a long week; so I'm going to give you last chance to calm down and listen to me before I get serious."

Finally, after what seems like an eternity since seeing her again, Romeo heard Wendy's voice in a non-spell like manner for the first time in seven long years.

"Why should I listen to you when you reek of Acnologia's stench and wield his magic?"

"Because I Macao's son, Romeo, remember? You used to play with me all the time when no one else was around to", Romeo tries to explain to her.

"Don't lie to me", Wendy says, "The Romeo I know is a cute six-year-old boy who wouldn't even hurt a fly, not some dragon-slayer who gives off the presence and smell of that monster."

"_She thought I was cute?", _Romeo asks himself before shaking his head to get his mind back on track.

"So you're not going to listen to what I have to say, are you?", he asks only to receive the sight of Wendy readying herself to continue her assault on him.

He lets out a sigh before sliding his blade into his holster and then detaching the whole thing, sheath and all into his right hand. He then gets ready once more for another round with the Sky Dragon-Slayer, "Believe me when I say that this is going to hurt me way more than it's going to hurt you; well, at least emotionally and probably mentally it is. Physically, you're getting the short end of the stick, not gonna lie."

**A/N: Bana shows a different side of himself as he faces off against Pantherlily while Romeo's fight with Wendy begins to heat up. Will the others intervene before these battles get out of hand or will the reunion turn bitter and dark?**

**Please Review, Fav, or Follow if you want.**

**Also check out _Fiery Hurricane of Love, The Wild Master, and A Child of Fire and Brimstone._**


	2. The Wind Vs The End Once Again

**_Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail_**

**_A/N: This is the first of a five chapters update over the following few days, though they are mostly going to focus on Harpocrates and Perses to help establish them as major side characters in this story. Afterwards, I have to move on to Romeo's Rising. What may this chapter so much more difficult than the other two is that I realize that I explain Chelia's magic and backstory so much that it seem that Wendy was going to be pushed to a side character slot, which isn't my intention. It was also not my intention to make her come off as being way weaker than Romeo and Chelia. I want her to be able to stay on equal footing with the other two main characters and I hope that this chapter helps set that standard, though there will be moments where she has a hard time keeping up with those two._**

_**I would like to thank ****Tenryu no hoko**_ **_for helping me plan out the plot for this and you should go check out their stories when you have the chance._**

**_Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow if you want._**

**_The Wind Vs The End Once Again_**

"_Never in the deepest part of my mind did I think I would be in a situation like this", _Romeo thought as he continues his stare off with the Sky Dragon-Slayer, "_I mean, what are the odds of me facing off against Wendy of all people?"_

The two of them circle each other, keeping a close watch on one another. Wendy kept an eye on Romeo's holster blade while he was observing her as well feeling for any changes in the wind.

"_How strong i__s__ Wendy in comparison to Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus __anyway__? They no doubt ha__ve__ her beat in the physical strength aspect but what about her other qualities? I__s__ she faster? More agility? I remember she c__an__ heal but she c__an't__ do that to herself so unlike my fights __with __Chelia, that's not a factor here", _Romeo mentally ranted on, "_Speaking of that she-devil, I wonder __what__ she __is__ doing __right now__."_

**Fairy Tail**

"Why is it whenever I want to kick his ass he's never here?!", Chelia shouts to the heavens as she stomps out of the building.

"Chelia, where are you going?!", Sherry calls out to her cousin.

"To go crush some rocks with my bare hands! I came here to break something and by the gods, I'm going to do it!", the god-slayer shouts back as she heads into the forest, leaving a bewildered guild hall.

….

...

"Sooooooooooo", Macao began after a moment of silence, "Is there anyone that wants to explain to me why she wants to beat the crap out of my son so badly?"

The remainder of the Lamia Scale group turns back around with Sherry massaging her temples while Jura looks sheepishly at best.

"I mean, I get that they didn't make the best first impressions on each other but that seems a little bit much", the Fairy Tail guild master finish.

"There have been...issues at the guild as of late", Jura began to explain, "Issues that have Chelia at the center of them."

"I'm assuming those issues started because of Romeo", Wakaba says as he takes a puff of his cigar.

Sherry lets out a breath, "Yesterday, Master Ooba announced the names of those who will most likely be on the team for this year's Grand Magic Games", she began, "Jura, Lyon, Yuka, Toby, and myself."

A shrill scream of pure rage and anger erupts from the forest and everyone turns to see streams of dark winds begin shot sporadically into the sky.

"As you can tell, Chelia isn't exactly happy about it", Yuka states.

Macao just raises an eyebrow at everything he just heard and witness, "I thought she was one of your strongest mages, right behind Jura and Lyon."

"She is", Lyon answered, "But due to recent events, it would seem that the guild's….confidences in her strength has wavier."

"Okay, so she lost to my son", Macao said, trying to hide the pride in his voice, knowing the reason why Romeo was so strong to begin with, "It's not like he's going to be in the GMG and face her again."

"True as that may be", Jura replies, knowing that Macao has essentially banned the guild from taking further part in the games, "But the Twin Dragonslayers of Sabertooth along with their own god-slayer will and as of right now, Master Ooba questions her abilities."

"Not that we don't", Sherry quickly assure everyone, "We know that she is still a powerful mage despite what everyone else believes."

"But the games are still quite a bit away. It's a little early for Master Ooba to be deciding the team, isn't it?", Macao points out.

"The names aren't set in stone yet. If anything only Jura and Lyon are guarantee to be on the team like they had in years past. But still, Chelia thought she was a shoo-in despite the outcome of her fight with Romeo, so you can see where she is coming from in her anger. It basically seems like she was training relentlessly for no reason now.", Sherry explains while keeping the whole truth to herself regarding the god-slayer and her intense training regiment. She couldn't believe that she of all people failed to read her own cousin's true intentions. At first, she thought Chelia was training with Jura to better herself, having been humbled from her loss to Romeo and curb that cocky attitude she had begun to develop. Hell, she along with everyone else, even were under the impression that her relative had developed a crush on the boy. To say that they were wrong would be an understatement. Chelia straight-up admitted not too long ago that the only reason she was training was to beat Romeo in a rematch and prove that she was better.

"_Speaking of Jura",_ she thought as she turns to the ace of Lamia Scale, "You know, you could have stopped training Chelia once she admitted the reason why she was doing it. It probably would have humble and calm her down a little."

Jura merely shakes his head, "I will never turn down the opportunity to train one so young in the ways of magic. What they do with my training afterward though is their decision and their decision alone."

Meanwhile, in the forest surrounding the Fairy Tail guild-hall, Chelia found herself a field full of large rocks just waiting for her to reduce to rubble, her fists surrounded by black swirling winds as she went to town.

"I'm one of the strongest mages in the guild!", she shouts as her fist collides with a nearby rock, turning it to dust.

"I'm the top rookie in the country!", another punch, another boulder reduce to pebbles.

She now began to gather more dark winds around her hands before stretching them outward to a particularly large boulder in the dead center of the field.

"And now everyone in the country thinks I'm weak because I **_barely _**lost to a dragon-slayer!", she screams just as her magic reaches its peak.

"**_Aeolus' Fury!", _**as two black streams shoot out and obliterated the rock, sending large chunks of it flying through the air. Chelia stood there breathing hard as the debris came down all around her.

"I need to beat that purple-hair piece of crap and prove once and for all that it was just pure luck that he beat me in the first place!", as the winds around her began to pick up, kicking up insane amounts of dust. So powerful were these galls that even the remaining large boulders throughout the began to steadily lift off the ground until they too caught up in the hurricane that Chelia was producing.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!", echoes throughout the area as the Sky God-Slayer lets out a roar forge from the raw anger that was smoldering within her.

**_Back on Tenrou_**

"_Oh well, no time to be worrying about that hag, I got bigger problems on my hands", _Romeo thought before something else occur to him, "_Or smaller. Is Chelia stronger than Wendy? I mean, they both use roughly the same type of magic but I never fought Wendy so __it __really makes me won-"_

"**_Sky Dragon's _****_Crushing Fang!", _**as Wendy launches herself at him, winds trails following behind her fingertips.

"Woah!", Romeo shouts as he ducks out of the way and his hand immediately clenches into a fist and shoots upward at Wendy's gut. He only stops at the last second after he realizes what he was about to do. He instead rolls out of the way and puts some distance between the two of them.

"_Damn it, reflexes kick in and I could have really hurt her! __I have to keep myself under control__", _he berated himself as Wendy lands and turns around, ready to launch a second strike against him.

"Wendy, you really need to reconsider your opinions. Your little dust trick isn't going to work anymore and not to brag, I'm pretty sure I got you beat in the combat department", Romeo told her, hoping his words would reach her and that she would see reason.

Well, you know what they say about hope, it breeds eternal misery as Wendy thrusts both of her arms forward at him.

"**_Sky Dragon's Sigh!", _**and a blast of wind came shooting out of her palms at him.

"**_Apocalyptic _****_Spiral!", _**Romeo counters as he holds out his free hand and a spinning bubbles of his magic appear in front of it, easily dispersing Wendy's attack upon her winds colliding with it.

"That's two out of two, Wendy! Now, will you stop and listen to me?", Romeo pleaded, "Seriously, I keep telling you that it's me, Romeo, Macao's son!"

"Your lie didn't work the first time, it's not going to work now!", Wendy screams as she launches herself in the air and Romeo watches in amazement as she flew over him.

"_She's so graceful", _he thought before realizing just exactly the girl was doing as Wendy once again thrusts both of her arms down at him and she started to gather even more magic in front of them than she did earlier.

"**_Sky Dragon's Tornado!", _**as this time two streams of spiraling winds came flooding out of her hands combining into one massive tornado which was heading right toward Romeo.

"Aw, craaaaaappp!", he screams as it hit him down on him and flings him violently through the air, causing him to lose his remaining blade in the process and soaring for a good twenty yards before painfully coming back down to earth on his back.

"Ahhhhh, damn it!", he curses as he turns over and attempts to push himself up, "I was expecting quite a few things to happen when I got on this island, but getting my ass handed to me by Wendy was definitely not one of them."

As he sits up, a thousand thoughts start running through his head.

"_Okay, most likely she smells Acnologia's scent all over me as well as the fact I'm using his magic, so no wonder she isn't letting up in her attacks. But is it so hard for her for even for a second to think that maybe I'm telling the truth?__",_ Romeo wonders before he picks up the sound of someone rapidly approaching and he stands up in time just as Wendy came bursting out of the trees.

She lunges at Romeo, more winds generating around her right leg and the boy finds himself unable to bring up his guard in time.

"**_Sky Dragon's Claw E_****_xplosion_****_!", _**and instead of the winds projecting off her leg, they instead amplify the force behind her kick and come shooting off from her leg on the point of impact, which was Romeo's left side, rocketing him backward through the means of a compact tornado and further into the forest. His flight was cut short as he collides into one of the many tall trees doting the woods, rattling some of its leaves off with the blow. As he drops to the ground and slumps over, Wendy stays at the ready, watching him from a safe distance for any sudden movements.

After what seems like an eternity of no motions from the boy other than his shallow breathing, she lends over on a nearby rock and wipes some sweat off her brow.

"Used up a lot of magic right now", she told herself, "I'm really am going to have to rest up after this", right as she takes a whiff of the air around her, "I think this is Cana who is nearby along with Elfman and Levy. If I can get to them quickly, I can warn them of what's going on", she says before she took a moment look at the boy, "Hopefully, I can get back in time with them to restrain him. It's disturbing to think that Acnologia uses kids like me to do his dirty work", as she turns to head off in the direction she smelt the others in.

At least she was until an audible groan makes her stop in mid-spin.

"Okay, Wendy", Romeo grunts out as he shakily started to stand back up, using the tree as support, "This is reaaaaaallllllly starting to get annoying."

"_How is he still able to stand?", _Wendy wonders as she once more took up a fighting stance, though the boy who falsely claimed to be Romeo didn't look all that concerned about her.

"Look, Wendy, I'm going to be honest with you. Your attacks, while they do sting a bit, aren't doing much more than that. At best, they're an annoyance. Perhaps if you were Natsu, Gajeel, maybe even Gray….", he states though he wasn't saying the whole truth.

Wendy was way stronger than he remembers her being and her attacks were doing more to him than he let on, though they weren't keeping him down. He only said all this in hoping this would make her consider her position and stop trying to fight him.

This was a form of psychological warfare that Bana taught him that allow him to get into his opponent's head and make the fight go more his way. He did the same thing against Chelia in their first fight and it worked pretty well to a degree. Hopefully, Wendy would seem the futility of fighting him and they could discuss what was going on like two civilized individuals.

Boy, did he underestimated her.

It really goes to show that he should have paid more attention to her all those years ago, but hey, he was six years old and she wasn't really around long enough for him to get to know her better.

Because something inside Wendy snapped when those words came out of his mouth and reach her ears and a feeling that she has only felt a handful of times in her life began to surge through her. The Sky Dragon-Slayer was well aware that she wasn't as physically powerful as Natsu or Gajeel, and that she was usually better off in a support role than the frontline role that they always took. Hell, she knew that even Gray had a number of advantages over her. She also had no choice but to face facts that she was probably equal to Pantherlily in strength when he was in Battle Mode and he had a bunch of battle experience to go along with that, something she lacks to a degree.

She wasn't even going to touch on Erza, Laxus, Mira, Gildarts, or Master Makarov who were pure monsters in their own right.

In short, while she was physically superior to a majority of her guild members, including Juvia and Cana who relied more on magic than their fists along with Lucy and Levy, who were more for their brains than anything, she was also inferior to a good number of them.

But just because she accepted this truth didn't mean she that liked it when people pointed it out to her.

Normally these were citizens on jobs, people in Magnolia, or some of her fellow members at the guild, but she kept a level-head around them and thus she would simply nod and agree with them before quickly changing the subject; doing her best to never let it show that such words annoy her to no end. She promised herself that she would never it show that she was a little resentful of the fact that she went from being the strongest mage in the northern region of Fiore that her former guild, Cait Shelter, used to reside in to basically being at the bottom of the high tier mages of Fairy Tail and essentially being assigned to the support/healer role of her team.

And this boy just had to go say that one little statement.

But seeing how he was an enemy, and a minion of Acnologia at that, she wasn't going to let him slide with his comment as she began gathering a small hurricane around her and kicking up small bits of dust and leaves as her hair began to dance wildly.

"_Wow, she looks amazing", _Romeo thought for a moment, "_No, Romeo! __Bad, Romeo!__ Stay focus__!"_

It was at that moment that he saw that a number of magic circles began appearing up in the air around Wendy. Their symbols must have been of a foreign origin for he could not make out what they said.

"_What's she doing?", _he asks himself before hearing Wendy start to speak in a different language.

"**_Galwaf ar hud y wlad hon i'm cynorthwyo"_** he heard her say.

"The fuck?", Romeo wonder as he just stood there and watch as Wendy went on.

"**_Rhowch fenthyg eich nerth i daro'r drygionus i lawr!"_**

As soon as the last words came out of her mouth, Romeo felt an immense spike of magic in the immediate area.

"What?!", he shouts he witness a flood of red, blue, orange, green, white, purple, yellow energy along with a dozen more colors rush from behind him. The same phenomenon was occurring all around. From the trees, the rocks, the ground, and from the very air itself came the rainbow of power and all of it was being funneled into the magic circles that surrounded Wendy which in turn seems to siphon it directly into her.

"Wait a minute, is that pure magic?", Romeo voices right before it stops and the magic circles dispel. No longer could he see the spectrum of magic but he could sure as hell feel it radiating off of Wendy.

"_Why do I have a strong feeling that what's about to happen next is not going to be good for me in no way, shape, or form?", _he thought.

A second later he was rocketed off his feet by a mighty eruption and sent flying back. As he lands on the ground, he instantly rolls back into a standing position but finds himself struggling to maintain as mighty gales coming from Wendy threaten to launch him once more.

"Okay, this is new!", Romeo screams, "Where was this all those years ago?!"

But his voice couldn't reach the female dragon slayer over the sound of the winds for she using them to keep Romeo at bay while she concentrated all the magic she had gathered to augment herself.

Moments later the winds cease their assault and Romeo was left standing there at least a dozen yards from Wendy who looked no different than what he encounter only a few minutes ago.

But Romeo was no fool. If it was one of the things he was taught by Acnologia and his servants, it was never just trusted your eyes for that was the path to death. Romeo could sense that Wendy's magic was fully restored as well as strengthen immensely. She was now on a higher level of power than he was and he wasn't fully sure what to make of all this magic she now had within her. The best way to describe it would be that the Sky Dragon-Slayer's body was now like a dam with a large reservoir full of magic.

"When did she learn this?", Romeo thought as he adopted a fighting stance, "Better yet, why didn't she used this technique before?".

Without warning, Wendy launches herself at Romeo, both of her hands swirling with her magic, promising him pain if they made contact.

It was also at that moment that the boy felt like he was standing right in front of a dam that has just burst open and he was caught right in the path of the oncoming flood.

"Well, shit,", was all Romeo could say at this new development as Wendy brought her fists down on top of him.

On another location on the island, Bana found himself temporarily distracted by a loud explosion that happen off in the far distance.

"_Wasn't that the direction Romeo was heading off to?", _he wonders before bringing the boy in question blade up to block an attack from the giant sword which was known as the Musica Sword.

"Not keeping your eyes on the opponent in the middle of battle? I taught you better than that!", Pantherlily voices as he brings his blade back for another attack, only to have Bana nimbly dodge it and roll past him, slashing his left leg in the process before ending up on the other side of him.

"Arrrgghhh!", the battle-harden exceed screams as he blocks out the pain and turns to face the servant of Acnologia, "Bastard!"

"Oh, you think that's bad? I'm going to do way worse to you by the time this is all over!", Bana declares as he readies himself to attack, "I'm going to prove to you that I am the better fighter and that your fluke win in the throne room that day was just that!"

**_A/N: It goes without saying that Romeo is about to catch these hands._**

**_Because I expanded on Chelia's magic, I'm going to expand on Wendy's as well though not to the same degree. In a future chapter, there will be an explanation to this new magic of hers and why she couldn't use it before._**

**_Also, I get that Cait Shelter wasn't a real guild to a degree but seeing how it was part of the alliance and Makarov knew about it, it must have at least interacted with other guilds in the area. In the official map of Fiore, Cait Shelter is located in the North, on the border, and pretty far from Magnolia. I like to think that being a dragon-slayer that despite her young age, Wendy was probably one of the more powerful mages in the area and remember that Fiore had at well over 100 guilds compete in the X791 Grand Magic Games. While there probably weren't as many of them around in X784, there still must have been a lot throughout the country, with probably at least a dozen operating in the area around Cait Shelter._**

**_In this story, if you add all of this together you could probably see that Wendy wasn't all that happy about dropping in the power ranking once she joined Fairy Tail though she seems like the type of person who would never show it. This will come up throughout the story._**

**_Also, the words that Wendy spoke were in Welsh. _**

**_Galwaf ar hud y wlad hon i'm cynorthwyo (I call upon the magic of this land to aid me)_**

**_Rhowch fenthyg eich nerth i daro'r drygionus i lawr!_****_ (Lend me your strength to strike down the wicked)_**


	3. A Garden in Rosetta

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail**_

_**A/N: The next few chapters are focus on Harpocrates and Perses along with another mage that doesn't get enough attention in this fandom along with their guild. Fairy Tail takes place in a massive world with so many ways of expanding on it. Now while that wasn't the main case and Fiore and Team Natsu got most of the spotlight, it does leave a lot up to the fandom to work on.**_

_**I would like to thank ****Tenryu no hoko for helping me with this chapter. Go check out their stories when you have the chance.**_

_**Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow if you want.**_

_**A Garden in Rosetta**_

The city of Rosetta. The so-called "Jewel of the North".

Founded in x592 by a group of Fiore's merchants on the country's northern coastline and located just twenty miles from the Fiore/Seven border; this city sports a massive bustling trading port and a large population of around one hundred thousand souls, thus making it the sixth-largest city in the country right after Crocus and the four regional capitals. It even styles itself in the same manner as the country's capital, the only things it was missing were famous monuments such as the Domus Flau and Mercurius. A number of high nobles have complained about this being the upmost showing of the city and its ruling members arrogance yet the Royal Family has stayed quiet on this matter.

Anyway, Rosetta has been a constant hotspot for merchants and their goods for nearly two centuries. Due to it's proximity to the border it is also the perfect place for someone with a less-than-honorable reputation to hide due to the constant flow of travelers if one was willing to keep to themselves and not cause a scene. The main factor to this is because despite it's importance to the country's economy there is nearly no military presence within the city as the imposing Fort Udadan was actually at the border and the city guard is just a tenth the size that it should be for a city as large as Rosetta.

This was because a few years ago, the city's government wish for the merchants to operate on a near-autonomous level without interference from local law enforcement, thus boosting trade within its borders and cementing its place as the second most financially profitable city in the country behind the capital. While there were still laws that needed to be upheld in order to maintain balance and stability, these were largely enforced by the city's merchant guild.

One would think that with all of these loose security measures in place that the "The City of Traders" would be a place of rampant crime and debauchery but that was far from the case for one thing and one thing only….

It is the only city in Fiore where the local magic guild actually assisted the city guard in enforcing the law instead of actively breaking it. Such a role was approved by both the Royal Family and the Magic Council seeing how neither one could field a garrison there without disrupting the flow of trade, so a compromise was reached with the guild being the only ones who could aid the small city guard and keep the peace.

Subsequently, because it was an all-female guild, the major crime districts shrunk dramatically within a year of the guild taking over until they nearly disappeared.

Or so they thought, for a long as there are humans there will always be a place for the scum of society to mingle and do business.

Harpocrates and Perses just had to find it.

And that what was the duo was currently doing as they walk down Rosetta's main road through the crowds, their hoods concealing their faces and their weapons covered up by large pieces of cloth. Thanks to the little chat with Banaboster, the information he gave them eventually led them to Rosetta where Jack Dime was allegedly hiding out. Now where exactly he was hiding out in a place like Rosetta was a whole other matter.

"Look, Harpocrates, I get that we have to stay low key and whatnot but do I have to go do it?", Perses groans as he checks out the trio of young ladies walking in front of them, "I mean, how do you expect me to behave when you dangle all these juicy meats in front of me? It's going to be pretty hard."

Harpocrates says nothing and only gives Perses a blank expression in return.

"Okay, fine", Perses throws up his hands, "See you later."

"Don't get in over your head", came Harpocrates' answer and with that, the Second Generation Apocalypse Slayer broke away, allowing his partner briefly to observe his surroundings alone. While the street was packed, the Third Gen found himself moving through the flow of the crowd quite easily, no doubt due to his stature and the weapon strap to his back, despite it being covered. While this did draw more than a few glances from the handful of city guards that walk by him, that's all it did. Hooded figures and open weapons were common in Rosetta due to its proximity to the border and Harpocrates was just another face in the crowd and that was the way he liked it. For most of the people that past him though, they were less concerned about his face and more concern about the large pouch of coin that hung around his waist. While for any normal person, this would be nothing more than a "Rob Me" sign but for Harpocrates it was a precaution, plus no one was fast enough to rob him. Anyway, regardless of how much he tried to blend into the crowd, there was always that chance that one or two guards would give him a second look and the gears in their head would start turning.

Now should that happen, the money was the main instrument in two of his back-up plans. The first one would be put into place whenever he felt like he was being tailed. He would merely head to the nearest shop or market stall and immediately start browsing around, making sure he was seen by whoever was running it. He would have the pouch in full sight and once they saw it and realize he could be a potential big spender the merchants and shop owners would do everything they could to make him feel at home. After that, it was merely a matter of waiting out the guards until they left; the longest time they ever spent waiting for him being merely half an hour. Now the second plan if there were no market stalls or shops around was run into a large group of people and throw a handful of coin out into the street. Everyone around him would immediately start fighting tooth and nail to get it and that was all the distraction he needed to disappear into the crowd and lose whatever guards were tailing him. Money held no value to him and Lord Acnologia had riches beyond imagination thanks to all of his "connections", so Harpocrates could easily replace the coin.

Now if by some means, neither one of these plans works and the guards tracking him were a tad too persistent to call it quits….well, let's just say that all it would take would be them following him down a dark alley and they would be considering themselves lucky if their comrades found their corpses in a reasonable time before they started decaying. To be fair though, there was a good chance they would merely just get knocked out if his business in the town could be concluded in a timely manner before they woke up.

Finding a park off to the side of the street, Harpocrates heads toward a solitary tree away from the main crowd and leans on it, his eyes scanning everything in front of him. He took note that the small city guards patrol mostly consisted of three guardsmen along with a member of the local guild, Mermaid Heel, if he remembered correctly, an all-female guild. While he himself couldn't care less about a guild's membership structure, he did find it odd that people would willingly restrict their success by forming a single-gender group thus cutting their potential recruitment. Strength wasn't limited to gender and yet it seems that this guild main gimmick was being entirely comprised of just one.

Quarto Cerberus was another such guild that he knew of that did that, only they used the opposite end of the gender spectrum and in his opinion, they were neither stronger nor weaker than Mermaid Heel. They were exactly the same in strength and neither one of them was even in the top three in terms of overall magical might in Fiore, but once again that wasn't his problem.

Another thing that Harpocrates took notice of was the number of couples that were strolling through the park, hand, and hand, eyes locked with one another while they pass by Harpocrates without so much as a glance. Lord Acnologia's top servant, Master Biilet, instructed Harpocrates on the concept of "Emotional Attachment" during his training before the Dragon King put an end to such "frivolous educations" once Perses and Erebus came along. But what Master Biilet did tell him was that humans were among the most expressive about their emotions and were the prime example of the term "social creatures" in which they form attachments and connections with their family and friends.

At one point, Harpocrates did try to relate and understand what Master Biilet was telling him but came up short. He simply couldn't comprehend it. Sure, Perses and Erebus were like brothers to him but that was only because he has never known anything else. Bana was his former head trainer, having taught him the way of the staff weapon. Master Biilet and Master Sahata, Harpocrates found himself instinctively shuddering at the mention of the latter, were his superiors and Lord Acnologia was well….his lord.

Now while Perses and Erebus were technically his subordinates he rarely has ever treated them like so. Hell, unlike those two, Harpocrates didn't even remember his life before Lord Acnologia. The Dragon King was just….there. Always has been, always will be until he can no longer prove his worth to him.

It was at this moment that Harpocrates notice that the number of the patrols was starting to increase in the area, with a few of them spilling over into the park. Soon this could possibly lead to confrontation with local law enforcement.

Decided that it would be best for him to avoid drawing attention in a sparsely populated area, he turns his head to the left and spots a narrow alleyway between two buildings not far from him.

"_Alleyways usually lead to not so pleasant places", _he thought as he quietly made his over there and slip into the shadows.

The first thing he became aware of was that he wasn't alone. Upon entry into the alleyway, he spots two men leaning on the walls no more then a couple of yards away. They spot him as well and instantly make eye contact with the large sack around his waist. He then sees them reach for something in their pockets and make their way toward him, but he paid no mind to either of them as he walks direct at them. Once they got closer they started to rush and lash out at him with their crude daggers. Harpocrates skillfully weaves through their predictable attacks and ends up on the other side of them before the duo even realizes it.

Lazily, the dragon-slayer flicks his left hand into the back of one of the men while his right elbow slightly nudges the other in the gut. Both men instantly drop to the ground in a heap and the Third Gen keeps moving, not even sparing the would-be thugs a second look. All of this was done in the blink of an eye and without skipping a step on the dragon-slayer's part as he made his way through the alley.

After walking for a good ten minutes, he eventually found himself standing in front of a towering brick wall, one that looks like it has been around for quite some time.

Figuring there was nothing worthwhile on the other side, he turns around to leave and backtrack his way to take a different route when he picks up quite a peculiar smell.

It was a scent that stood out in the middle of a large city which was located in a country like Fiore...

It was the smell of coconuts.

Harpocrates looks back at the wall and gives the air a few sniffs, just to make sure he wasn't going crazy. The last time he smelled coconuts this far from the Western Ocean islands was when Master Biilet brought some back from his expedition to that area. Once he determined that he wasn't going crazy, his curiosity got the better of him.

After staring at the wall for a few more moments, Harpocrates took to the air with a single leap and easily clear the top of it and came down on the other side.

Landing quietly on a grassy patch of land on the other side, the Third Gen was surprised to find himself in what seems to be a garden of sorts, one littered with at least half a dozen statues of various people that Harpocrates didn't recognize nor cared about. He took note that there were no obvious ways into this garden as none of the buildings had any doors or even windows leading into this place, it was just more bricks walls and the backs of buildings. Various stone benches were scattered about as well, all showing various signs of decay and lack of maintenance. Surprisingly it was this that help him piece together that someone has been using this area recently, mostly because the vegetation was neatly trimmed and wasn't overrunning the place….

The two dozen tropical trees producing fruits not naive to Fiore might have had something to do with it as well.

But the most glaring clue of all would no doubt be the woman tending to said palm trees, completely unaware that he was there despite him only standing a few yards behind her as she was far too engrossed in inspecting the coconut tree.

"_Huh, a Mahawaiian, don't see one of them every day in Fiore. Hell, you rarely see them in this part of the world at all.", _he thought as he got a good look at her from his position off to the side and the first thing he notices was the large tan skin belly that was sticking out over a dark blue loincloth with white lining and bore the mark of something he couldn't identify. Then his eyes travel upward pass a short blue top and arms decorated with brown fringed sleeves attach by maroon bands. He finally lands on the woman's black color eyes along with her large patch of black curly hair and a beige headband with no distinct markings on it. She had a necklace around her neck which seem to be made up of animal teeth. She was holding what seems to be a large basket of fruits from the various trees and she was doing something else that struck Harpocrates as quite peculiar.

She was singing.

_**I like to be one with my island**_

_**I like to flow with the waves**_

_**The breeze blows oh so gently**_

_**And the sunlight brightens my day**_

For several moments, Harpocrates didn't move, he barely even breathed. He just stood there with his head tilted, watching the woman tend to her trees while singing her song, its tunes completely captivating him within its melodies. Part of himself told him that he should just leave her be and make good his exit, especially seeing how she had yet to notice him.

….

But another part of him wanted to hear the rest of the song. It's was rare to hear a tune from that part of the world, especially one sung in the common tongue of Ishgar.

_**When I hear the ocean bash the shoreline**_

_**The sound brings a smile to my face**_

_**I climb the trees to pick the coconuts**_

_**Because I know they have the most heavenly taste**_

Harpocrates finds himself moving quietly behind her and sitting down at a nearby concrete bench that looked worse for wear but still supported his weight.

Within his mind, he found himself on a tropical island, almost as if the very words in the song had transported him there. He could almost feel the ocean breeze on his skin, the cool water splashing on his feet, and the sun beaming down on him as the birds flew overhead.

No longer was he in the bustling city of Rosetta but now on a sandy beach overlooking the sea on a tropical island in the western ocean.

_**Crack!**_

And all that was gone in an instant as a piece of the bench he was sitting on gave way and crumble to the ground, letting out a sound that echo through the small garden. The woman stops singing and turns around, only to drop her basket, the fruit spilling out upon hitting the ground.

For what seems like an eternity, Harpocrates and the woman locked eyes with one another. His calm red and blue eye staring directly back into her shocked black eyes.

"You have quite the exquisite singing voice", he says hoping to calm the girl down as he stood up, for he like him understood that most people wouldn't be too happy to see a hooded man staying behind them all of a sudden, especially one with a bladed staff attach to their back.

But then he felt a surge of magic spring up from the girl and suddenly he felt a sharp increase in the pressure around him that started pushing him down.

Everything within his general vicinity was hit by this spell as well as the bench itself started to crack until it crumbled into rubble.

"_Gravity Magic? From a Mahawaiian?", _Harpocrates thought as he continued standing straight up, unfazed by the spell but nevertheless slightly impress by it. Magic like this was a rarity, even in a country like Fiore. Nevertheless, while the magic wasn't greatly affecting him it was annoying him. With almost incredible ease, the servant of Acnologia began walking toward the woman who could only look on in horror as he got closer and closer to her.

"You can stop now. Your spell is obviously not doing anything to me", he said.

"Don't look down on chubby people!", she declares as she took a few steps back and turns on the juice, pumping more magic into her spell and causing even the ground around Harpocrates to be pushed down. But the Third Gen easily walks out of the crater, closing the gap between them with every passing moment.

Eventually, he got so close that the woman had no choice but to get away from him. She jumps backward, high into the air with more agility than Harpocrates thought one her size was capable of having. Landing on the wall of the back of the building behind her, the woman surprises the dragon-slayer by standing sideways on it, her feet firmly planted and now she was looking down at him. She was even maintaining the spell despite being such a difficult position.

"_Huh, not just any type of Gravity Magic, she is utilizing Gravity Change. That's even rarer if I'm not mistaken. Which makes it even stranger that she of all people has it. Could have sworn that learning outside magic_ _was forbidden_ _for the Mahawaiians.", _Harpocrates thought before realizing that she was sweating profusely, the droplets falling off of her forehead to the ground like rain. No doubt from the amount of magic that was put into this particular spell. With every passing moment, he felt the pressure grow and grow but still he had yet to yield to it.

"_She'll be out of magic soon if she keeps going like that. Her people aren't known to have large magic pools",_ he thought and as if on cue, the pressure suddenly ceases and Harpocrates watches as the woman closes her eyes and her feet let go of the wall. As she slowly plummets to the ground, the slayer briefly wonders whether or not it would be worth the effort to save her. The fall wasn't _**that **_high up and the woman had a fifty/fifty chance of being okay. Plus, she has already attacked him once so in his mind there was nothing stopping her from doing it again. The fact that she was even still alive after doing such a thing was a courtesy on his part seeing how he did come into what seems like her private garden.

But once more, curiosity got the best of him and he founds himself dashing into the air and catching the woman in his arms, her large weight hindering him in no way whatsoever. As he lands on the ground, she regains consciousness for a brief moment and looks up at him, squinting as though she was trying to get a good look at his face, which was impossible due to his hood.

But the moment was brief as she once more passes out, causing Harpocrates to take a deep breath and exhales slowly.

"Today is going to be one of those days, I can just feel it.", he said as he places the woman down near the sole remaining indigenous tree in the garden and sees a slip of paper slip out of a pocket sewn into her loincloth. Without a moment of hesitation, he picks it up and looks over it.

"Huh, her guild profile sheet. Forgot they have to carry these around with them nowadays", he comments as he read over it, "Risley Law, that's an odd name for a Mahawaiian. Guild: Mermaid Heel, probably could have figured that out on my own. Age 24, she's only a year younger than me", he said aloud before moving down to her magic and his eyes widen slightly.

"Gravity Change along with all eight Island Magics.", he read off before looking back at the plump woman now sleeping soundly on the grass while snoring slightly "Interesting."

"Owwwwwwwwww", Risley groans as her eyes flutter up and she found herself lying on her back staring up into the sky, watching the clouds float by while the birds in the trees sang their songs.

"What happened?", she asks as she rubs her head, only to hear the sound of someone slurping coming from her left side.

Risley instantly rolls over to see the same hooded man who snuck into her garden earlier sitting on a bench not far from her while drinking out of a coconut… one of her coconuts.

He pulls away from the fruit and looks at it for a moment, "This is pretty sweet", he says before turning his attention toward her, "Oh, you're awake. Here I thought you be out for hours but it has only been one at best."

It only takes Risley a second to recover from her shock, but in an instant, she was back on her feet focusing her magic…

Only for her vision to start going hazy and she felt herself falling toward the ground. But surprisingly the impact never came as the man had moved from his sitting position and was by her side in a blink of an eye, steadying her with his hands.

"Hmm", he says, "It seems like you still need time to recover", he said as he walks her over to the bench he was sitting at previously, she herself not being able to put up any resistance as she was still too tired to do so.

"_This guy could do whatever he wanted with me with the way I am right now, so what's he waiting for?", _Risley thought and she sat down and watches the man go and retrieve some fruit from her basket, her eyes never leaving the weapon strap to his back, its outline she could easily make out underneath the cloth, "He c_ould have killed me while I was out too, but he didn't. What's he playing at? Anyone who wears a hood over their face isn't exactly trustworthy."_

"I can feel you staring at me, you know?", he suddenly spoke, catching her off-guard, "And it's quite rude to stare, Miss Law."

"How do you know my name?", Risley asks before hearing the rustling of paper next to her and looks down to see her magic profile sheet.

"It fell out of your pocket", Harpocrates calmly replies over his shoulder before turning around with some pears and mango in his hands and comes back toward her. He stops a short distance away and places the food on the bench before turning around and heading toward the wall that brought him to this place.

"Hey, wait a minute!", he hears behind him and turns around to see the woman looking at him.

"Yes, Miss Law? Is there something you need of me?", he asks, wondering why he listened to her order in the first place.

"You just come into my garden, scare the living crap out of me, eat my fruit, and just leave like nothing happen?", she asks.

"Well, a lot happened really. I came here because I smelled coconuts, a rare fruit in these parts and I got curious. I then jump over this absurdly tall wall", he said as he points at the wall behind him, "I heard you singing, which like I said before all the shenanigans started, was very soothing to listen to. Then you found out I was here and started attacking me, very badly by the way", he continues, ignoring the look Risley gave him after his comment, "You jump onto a wall, kept attacking me while using up all your magic, and you passed out. I caught you before you hit the ground and now here we are."

"And I'm supposed to believe that you didn't do anything to me while I was knock out?", Risley says.

The man looks at her for a second, tilting his head at her while doing so...and then he started laughing. Loud and rambunctious, it carried around the garden.

"What's so funny?", Risley asks, a slight edge to her voice.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. Believe me, I didn't do anything to you while I slept; I swear on my lord's name", Harpocrates reassure her.

"Is it because I'm chubby?", Risley says, feeling that this was no doubt the reason. Guys in this country just didn't have a thing for girls with a little extra weight on them.

"I don't look down on anyone due to their physical features, Miss Law, that kind of behavior is too uncivilized for my taste", Harpocrates tells her, catching her off-guard "Besides, if I wanted to bring harm unto you, it wouldn't have mattered if you were asleep or awake."

A chill crept up Risley's spine, one that crept into every nerve in her body, and the Mahawaiian knew why. She pours all her magic into the _**Fall **_spell she used against him and he looked completely unbothered, even walking normally toward her; that alone required an extremely large amount of physical strength. Plus who knows how long he was waiting behind her while she was inspecting her fruit while singing.

Nothing but the truth came out of his mouth.

If he wanted to hurt her, she wouldn't have been able to stop him no matter what she did.

The two merely stare at each other for a couple of seconds before the man merely waves, "Sorry to have intruded on you, Miss Law, but now I must bid you a good day."

And with that, he flips backward high into the air and landed at the top of the brick wall.

"And don't worry, I won't tell a soul about your little garden. I figure anyone who is willing to set something like this up away from the public eye obviously doesn't want anyone else knowing about it.", he said as he turns around and jumps into the alley, leaving Risley in her semi-tropical garden alone with only her thoughts to keep her company.

_**A/N: Unlike most other stories in this Fandom, I'm going to properly explore Risley Law and Mermaid Heel as a whole, giving them a proper backstory. Not insulting the people who write these stories, but the majority of them that have Risley or Mermaid Heel usually put them in a role where they're only there to boost a harem for either Natsu, Lucy, Erza, or whoever is the main character, or just getting fuck silly by them. I can't put them down seeing how "Ladies' Man" does some of those things.**_

_**But I will try to make sure that unlike those stories, Risley and Mermaid Heel get a day in the spotlight.**_

_**Mahawaiian is basically "Magic Hawaiian". Since Risley's description in the wiki states that she wears ****Polynesian, I decided to go with that as part of her heritage. Also, her Island Magic will be explained further along in the story as well as Mermaid Heel's background.**_


	4. The Busty Bovine

_**Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail**_

_**A/N: **__**As you're going to find out as you read through this story (If you already haven't) is that Perses, unlike Harpocrates or Romeo, is exactly what you would expect from someone who works for Acnologia.**_

_**I would like to thank ****Tenryu no hoko**_ _**for helping me with this. You should go read their stories when you have the chance.**_

_**Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow, if you want.**_

_**The Busty Bovine**_

"Where the fuck is this place?" Perses grumbles as he travels the back alleys through the eastern district of Rosetta's, looking for the rendezvous point. While in transit toward Rosetta, Harpocrates and he received word from Lord Acnologia himself that one of his local agents operating in the city was to meet them around noon the day of their arrival at a tavern called the "The Busty Bovine". The Second Gen drew the short straw, not that he had much of a choice, to go make contact and meet up with them while Harpocrates scope out the city and took notes on the local law enforcement.

"All because Erebus has a hit on him. Big fucking deal", he complains before the sound of shouting and glass breaking fills his ears and he stops to listen to where it was coming from.

"Just a little ways away", he said as he turns his head to his left, "That way", and takes off in a fast walk down the alley. He passes through a couple of groups of lowlifes, scums, and other not so lawful people, but they were smart enough to avoid causing trouble with him once they spotted the giant sword shape object on his back.

"Pussies", Perses grumbles, "And here I was hoping for a little fun before my "business" meeting."

As he came out of the alleyway, he instantly stops and holds a hand up in front of his face on his left side. Not even a second later, a bottle of rum flies at it and he catches it with the greatest of ease. As he tosses it away, he looks over to see who threw it he realizes that it must have been one the participates in the large brawl that was happening right in the middle of the poorly-maintain street. Various gangs of thugs were lock in what seemed to be a no-holds brawl as most of them were using a variety of weapons to dish out pain as well as kicks to the groin and eye-gouges all in broad daylight.

"Looks like I'm in the right place", he told himself.

Normally, Perses would jump right into such a melee if only to blow off some steam but he had to find this "contact" as soon as possible. Just his luck that the place he was looking for just so happen to be right behind the brawl, the store sign with the image of a humanoid cow with large breasts being a clear indicator along with the words "_**The Busty Bovine**_" right next to it.

"Lovely", the Second-Gen mumbles as he heads toward the front door, a path that took him directly through the middle of the scuffle. The sound of broken bones and flesh being torn from the body didn't bother him in the slightest as he made no attempt to either block or dodge any hits that came his way.

One man had the misfortune of landing a solid punch on the Perses' jaw but it was his own hand that crumble upon impact. He didn't even have time to let out a blood-curling scream of agony before the dragon-slayer backhanded him without a second thought and sent him flying down the road. The next man clearly didn't see what he just did or else he would have chosen not to attack Perses with a crowbar to the top of his head. The piece of metal was quickly taken out of his hand by the agent of the Dragon King and before he could even react to this, Perses swiftly and easily wrap it around his neck before leaving him to choke as he collapses to the ground, struggling for air as the bar was now preventing from doing so naturally.

Eventually, after a few more casualties, Perses makes his way through the mob and enters the Busty Bovine, pushing through the unusual steel doors it had.

Every head in the room turns to his direction and he could feel nearly a hundred eyes looking him up and down. He keeps a straight posture, showing no signs of fear but at the same time showing that he wasn't looking for a fight….at least not yet.

Eventually, everyone goes back to their business and he looks around the establishment taking in all of the patrons, which seem to be a monty crew of cutthroat killers, pimps, their merchandise, and thieves.

Just the type of people he loves being around. But just like outside, he didn't have time to sit down and enjoy the crowd. Instead, he began scanning it looking for the one person who was also looking for him, but that was easier said than done. Ever since the last contact in Rosetta fail to keep the coin from the city's treasury flowing into Acnologia's treasure hoard, they have since been replaced and for some reason, neither Perses nor Harpocrates were even given a description of what this person looks like. Add the fact that the two slayers went to great lengths to keep from ending up on a wanted poster and you soon realize that even meeting up with a scheduled contact was a game of hide and seek, which was probably the Dragon King's intentions.

The Second-Gen couldn't help but chuckle at this. Lord Acnologia was constantly testing his older slayers to keep them up to par, always upping the difficulty of an assignment to make sure they could complete it and meet his absurdly high standards and if Erebus somehow through some miracle manage to survive the assassin's hit on him, no doubt the dragon of the apocalypse would start holding him to those very same standards as well. For now, the youngest dragon-slayer was getting the baby treatment and Perses felt that his lord was being way too soft on the kid, especially seeing that he let him go back home.

"He should have just wiped out the whole town when he took him", Perses mutters, though even he was smart enough to keep this to himself. If there was one thing Lord Acnologia hated it was when someone questions his actions to a certain extend.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, it didn't help Perses that half the patrons in the building, including himself, were wearing hoods over there heads. The majority of them were cheap ones that barely covered your facial features, unlike the magical ones that he and Harpocrates had that used a variation of shadow magic to hide their faces even if someone was directly in front of them. Still, though, the dragon-slayer couldn't exactly go up to every person in the room and looks under their hoods, that was just asking for trouble; which he wouldn't mind but he was on a job.

So he props himself up on the empty part of the wall and closes his eyes. He slowed his breathing and focus his attention. If sight wouldn't help him in this matter, then he would have to rely on hearing. He had to use his enhanced ears and listen to the conversations that people were either having with their customers or to themselves depending on their sanity level. Slowly but surely, he started to zone out all the noises from around him and focus his hearing. Since it was already a given that the person wouldn't be in the brawl happening outside, that was the first thing that he drown out for you would have to be a complete idiot to keep a lieutenant of Acnologia waiting while you indulge yourself.

The second thing he blocks out was the sounds of the bar as the bartender filled up mugs, clean them, and place them on the shelf or when they were placed on the serving platter of the tavern wenches as they carried out orders.

Soon the music was gone as was the singing until Perses was left in a nearly soundless void where only the voices he could hear were the whispers he allow to enter it. And he listens with great interest in what they had to say.

"We got a job tonight at the docks. The Bevalants wants some extra muscle for a shipment coming in. Be at Pier 5 by midnight."

"I hear the Old Lady is making a move against the Marieas."

"You got the stuff?"

"You got the cash?"

"When's the hit going down?"

"Two weeks from now at the gambling house on Bater Street."

"I can't let them find me. I have to get out of town. They're going to kill me if they find and that's if I'm lucky."

"So we're going to keep half of what we stole and tell them that this was all we found. Once the heat dies down, we're blowing this place and heading to the capital to start up our own little business."

"The rumor has it that Count Harian is looking for some new recruits to replace the losses from the raid the Goudies did on his spice house."

"Count me out, you have to swear a blood oath to that crazy old coot."

"Yeah, the Eastside gangs are getting a little more ballsy nowadays. A few of them have even stopped taking orders."

"That won't end well. Remember what happened last time they did that? Half of their leaders were swimming with the fishes within a week."

This and a dozen more of underworld dealings, backstabbings, and other nefarious activities came into Perses' mind and were filter out yet not one of them pertain to him. He then decides to switch it up a little and start focusing on the heartbeats. The contact no doubt knew that he would be meeting with one of the top members of Acnologia's hierarchy and that alone would send anyone heart racing. So all he had to do was find the one person whose heart was beating faster than a locomotive speeding out of control.

Which turned out to be another dead end as at least a dozen heartbeats were going off above their normal rates.

"Fuck me", Perses murmurs as now he had no choice to revert to last means of detection: his nose.

Filtering out smells was harder than sounds but it could be done. The first thing you had to do was get the general scent of the room and its occupants then it was simply a matter of shifting through and finding the one smell that stood out.

Easier said than done seeing how the room was blanketed in a cloud of sweat, piss, vomit, and body odor. Proper hygiene seems to not be held in high regard in this place. Stenches form from days if not weeks from going without a shower or bath culminated in the air and for his heighten scent of smell, it was a nightmare for Perses.

But he persists through it all for he had his orders and the last thing he wanted to do was fail to carry them out. So for ten minutes, he shifted through the smells, trying to piece together a puzzle through scent alone. But in this puzzle the pieces weren't connecting and the longer it drags on the more Perses started to lose his patience. He was just about to go out back and contact Master Biilet asking for a description of the contact when he caught a whiff of it.

It was small, nearly drowned out in the flood of human stenches, but it was there. A smell that shouldn't be in this part of Rosetta.

The smell of soap.

He turns his head in the direction it was coming from and focuses on it. From the area on the other side of the room, he picks up the scent of a fresh spring along with almonds and going off of the potency of it, whoever had it on them was using a lot of it. Baths seem to be rare in this community, soap baths even more so. So he started slowly walking in the direction he was looking at, stealing glances at everyone he passed, looking for any signs of wealth on the people around him. Using soaps usually meant that you not only had the money to obtain it but also the fact that you could walk into whatever establishment was selling it and purchase them without a hassle.

Soap was not something sold on the streets.

That meant that you were not a frequent visitor to this area of the city and most likely wouldn't want people to know that so chances are whoever scent he was following was trying to hide their identity.

Perses was close to pinpointing the source of the smell when another scent caught his attention, one that was coming from outside through the open window.

Only this one wasn't some fragrance or something you brought from a traveling street vendor. This was something that he has rarely ever smell despite all the places he has been to.

This was the smell of a woman giving off the scent of raw power.

He turns to look out the window and through the brawl that was still going on outside and through a gap in the fight, he saw her walking up the street and the sight of her instantly got his blood pumping.

She was a slim woman around his age with a distinct look that reminded him of the people who lived in the Far East. She had long, straight, and glossy purple hair, reaching down to her lower back, which was mostly left loose. Her hair was parted in the middle of her forehead and sporting two bangs framing her face and going down below her shoulders. On each side of her head, her hair was tied into a pair of bun-shaped _Dango _loops he believed they were called, with a braid attach to each of them. Her make-up reminded him of a Geisha, a hostess in the eastern lands with her lips being covered in glossy dark lipstick, and her slanted dark eyes, possessing long eyelashes, being topped by a pair of elongated, diagonal dark spots, seemingly acting as or covering her eyebrows.

Her face looked familiar and he couldn't place where he has seen her before, but damn, did she have a body on her. It was the kind that women would kill for and this was coming from a guy who has witness people perform human sacrifices for such things.

Her attire was much like the rest of her, with the woman wearing a strapless dress which highly resembled a Cheongsam". This had a large slit in correspondence to the woman's left leg, exposing her thigh, and comes secured to her body by a number of dark laces on the back and to her right side, exposing a part of her right breast's backside and by a line of metal fasteners taking the shape of two horizontally-placed triangles with their bases linked together on her front left side. At the front of her dress, he spots an image of a large long fanged creature lurking in the grass while looking like it was ready to pounce. To top off her outfit, she was wearing a pair of shoulder-length ornamental gloves, dark on the arms and hand's lower part and light on the upper one, and with dark boots reaching up to her middle calves.

"On second thought, maybe Erebus having an assassin trying to kill him isn't so bad after all", Perses told himself before he spots the five men walking behind the woman. The group takes a gander at the fight and the woman merely scoffs before turning the opposite way and headed down the street, the men following behind her like dogs following their master.

"_I have a feeling that that girl is too prideful to be a prostitute, so why are they following her?", _the Second Gen thought, "_Wait a minute, what's that symbol on their arms?"_

As he focuses on the three of the men's right arms, he notices that they were sporting a guild insignia, one that looked vaguely familiar to him. After mulling over it for a second, Perses realizes where he has seen it before and he almost burst out laughing because it helped him remember where he has seen that woman before. It was at last year's Grand Magic Games in Crocus where he and Harpocrates were doing a job for Master Billet and he just so happen to be reading a newspaper about the events that were going on that day. He couldn't have care less about the whole thing, but one picture, in particular, stood out about the strongest mage of the guild that won last year.

Perses decided at that very moment that once he was done with his business here at the tavern, he was going to have to go and have a nice little chat with Miss Minerva Orland, especially seeing how Lord Acnologia once mentioned being pretty intrigued by her magic.

_**A/N: As I said in the last chapter, this story will give both Harpocrates and Perses a lot more focus than the last one did as well as their interactions with other people. As you can probably tell, they are going to play a major role in this and hopefully help me expand on the Fairy Tail world that is mostly left out in canon.**_


	5. Cafe de Mermaid

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail**_

_**A/N: Part three of the Rosetta' s story arc and this one will explore some parts of Mermaid Heel as a whole along with a few aspects of Risley "Island Magic".**_

_**Also, let me tell you why I like to expand on Risley. She is entirely different than any other female mages in the story simply by the fact that she has no problem having a little meat on her bones, so to say. Most of the other girls are basically models yet she isn't and she seems to be proud of it. Even with her skinny form, it seems to mostly be used for combat purposes. **_

_**I would like to thank ****Tenryu no hoko for help with this. Go check out some of their stories when you have a chance.**_

_**Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow, if you want.**_

_**Cafe De Mermaid**_

Ten whole minutes have passed since that mysterious man left her garden and Risley still couldn't believe what had happened. She thought no one could ever find this place seeing how you would need a certain type of magic like hers to get over the walls, but the man cleared them like they were nothing. She wanted to just sit there and ponder but one look up at the position of the sun and she knew that was a luxury she couldn't afford.

"I've got to get going or else I'm going to be late for my shift", she tells herself as she made her way to the wall opposite of the one Harpocrates jump over and began walking up it with her Gravity Change.

Strolling past the two men who were still unconscious from earlier, Harpocrates exits the alley, the incident with Risley now the farthest thing from his mind, when he felt a small magical pulse go off in his cloak. Stealing a quick glance to make sure no one was looking at him, Harpocrates quietly slips back into the alley and takes out a modified communication lacrima.

"This is "_**He who rules the battlefield in silence**_", reporting", he said in a quiet voice and the lacrima screen flicker on and the Third Gen sees a figure standing with his back to him, dress in a flowing dazzling white, blue, and golden robe that covers them from head to toe. The person seems to be in front of a table of some sorts with a large number of books and scrolls scattered about along with a talisman here and there. They also seem to be in some cave of some sort, though the lacrima range of vision was limited.

"Master Biilet? I was...not expecting you to contact me. Why Perses and I last spoke with our lord just last night about our progress of our assignment", Harpocrates admitted, "_Wonder why he's calling me now?"_

"I thought I call and see how everything was going", Master Biilet said in a voice shrouded in power despite him barely speaking above a whisper. The figure then holds out a hand and a book appears in it without warning, "As I recall, neither you nor Perses have operated in Rosetta before, you have merely passed through there a couple of years back."

Harpocrates couldn't help but chuckle, "You know, Master Biilet, I'm not a little kid anymore, I can handle myself."

"I remember you saying that exact same thing before going to counter Ajeel Raml and his operations in Desierto. You barely escape with your life", Master Biilet states as he flips through some pages.

"But I decimated half his squad before I was forced to flee, thus forcing him to abandon Desierto plus I was much younger and inexperience back then", Harpocrates points out with a chuckle, "If I was to fight him right now, it would be no contest."

"If you say so", Master Biilet said as he put his finger on a line in the book, "Tell me, have you discover anything on the whereabouts of this Jack Dime individual?

"Not yet, but Perses broke off to make contact with one of our lord's agents operating in Rosetta while I scope out the lay of the city", Harpocrates answer before a thought came to him, "Oh, though I did have a run-in with a woman, a Mahawaiian."

Master Biilet stops reading for a moment before resuming, "In Fiore? I could understand Far Eastern Earthland or even Alakitasia, but Isghar? Even though it is not unheard of, it is still quite rare."

"That's what I thought", Harpocrates agreed, "But here's the real kicker, she can use all eight of the Island Magics of Mahawaii."

Now Master Biilet completely stop what he was doing, "Are you certain about this?"

"Well, at least that's what her guild profile sheet said; don't ask how I got it", Harpocrates answered, a bit concern about the figure's change in voice tone.

…

….

"The Pomaikai is in Fiore and part of a guild at that", Master Biilet spoke.

"Oh, she knows Gravity Change as well", the dragon-slayer inform him.

….

Seconds tick away as Harpocrates received no answers; he was left alone in almost complete silence with the hustling and bustling of the city the only sound he heard in the background.

"Um, Master Biilet?", he asks after a moment.

"You now have secondary orders to complete while you're in Rosetta", Master Biilet declares, "I need you to gather as much information as possible on this girl including confirming her status as the Pomaikai. I suggest you establish a close acquaintance with her. Seeing how you two have already met, this should be a simple task."

Harpocrates wonders for a moment whether or not he should tell him the details of his first encounter with the woman, but decides against it, "But my orders from Lord Acnologia-"

"Are still the main objective to complete", Biilet cuts him off, "But seeing how Lord Acnologia gave you a week to find Jack Dime and going off the previous patterns that you and Perses have done in these types of assignments, you can purses my orders during the daylight hours and track Jack Dime at night. Do you understand?"

Harpocrates knew better to disobey Master Biilet's orders or to even argue, he had the title "Right Claw of the Dragon King" for a reason, so he simply nodded his head.

"Very well then, carry out the task I have given you", Master Biilet said and with that, the lacrima went dead.

As he push the lacrima away, Harpocrates shook his head.

"Definitely going to be one of those days", he murmurs.

Back with Master Biilet though, he was currently standing up straight while looking directly ahead.

"Is there something you need of me, my lord?", he spoke to no one in particular.

At first, there was no response, but eventually a voice rang out from the shadows.

"**It has been a long time since you have given your own set of orders to my agents without running it through me first, Biilet. I must say, it is quite….vexing in a way."**

"I assure you, my lord, I meant no disrespect."

"**I am aware that you did not, Biilet, you have proven your loyalty to me time and time again.** **Which is why I am not making an issue out of it but this will not be happening again, understand?"**

"Of course, my lord", Master Biilet says, still looking dead ahead.

"**Now I will admit, it has been quite a while since you experimented on the last Pomaikai."**

"Three hundred and fifty-one years to be exact."

"**Are you going to try and make sure this one lasts more than three months?"**

"Well, my lord, it's going to take time for me to get ready. I have to research my old notes, determine what went wrong last time and then prep that lab up as well as update the equipment", Master Biilet laid out, "It could take some time. Meanwhile, the Third Cataclysm will be gathering information on the test subject."

"**Hmph, do what you need to do. Just make sure you are ready should I call for you."**

"Of course, Lord Acnologia."

_**Cafe De Mermaid**_

"You are late", the ace of Mermaid Heel states as Risley stroll into the guild-run restaurant.

Risley, upon realizing where she was as her mind was too busy processing a thousand thoughts to think straight, plasters a smile on her face and turns to look at the clock upon the entrance-way of the restaurant that her guild ran.

"Actually, I'm fifteen minutes early", she replies when she turns back around.

"You are usually here thirty minutes early", Kagura tells her, "Is everything alright?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be? It's such a lovely day today", Risley answers.

Kagura regards Risley for several seconds, looking her up and down as if she was searching for any signs of a lie. Afterward, she simply shook her head.

"Go get ready for your shift."

"You got it", Risley laughs and makes a beeline for the kitchen.

"Oh, by the way, Risley", Kagura calls after her without turning around, "Jaskeria will be here in about an hour to take over as shift manager for me while I go over the budget upstairs."

Risley stops in her tracks and Kagura didn't have look back to see that the Mahawaiian was not pleased by this.

"Lovely", is all that she says before continuing to the back.

Once she went through the kitchen doors, she headed straight to the back to change in the locker room on the other side. Once there, she strolls over to her locker, passing her guild friends, Millianna, Arana, and Beth, without a word. The trio takes notices of this as it was routine for Risley to stop and chat with them before heading to change.

Risley was in the process of putting on her custom made extra-large work apron when she suddenly had the feeling that she was being watched. Sure enough, when she turns around, she came face to face with three different pairs of eyes.

"I reckon something wrongs with you, Risley, or my last name isn't Vanderwood", Beth says.

"Yeah, what's going on with you, meow?"

"I'm doing just fine, just a little tired", Risley says, hoping that answer would suffice. Too bad they weren't falling for it.

"You know you can talk to us, right?", Arana steps in.

"There's nothing wrong with me", Risley said again, "Seriously, I'm fine."

The three girls exchanged glances at one another for a second before focusing their attention back on the Mahawaiian.

"If you say so", Arana before looking at the other two, "Let's go. Beth, you got the hostess shift while Millianna and I got the outside venues. And Risley..."

"Same job I always have, in the back at the dishwasher", Risley finish.

_**Rosetta's City Square**_

"Now where am I suppose to find this woman? I have been walking around for an hour now", Harpocrates asks himself as he walks around the square, scoping out the area, "I mean, I could just go to straight to their guild hall, it shouldn't be too hard to find, but it might draw too much attention."

"Come to the Mermaid Cafe, where everyone is served with a smile!", a voice rings out throughout the square and the dragon-slayer turns his head to the source.

He finds himself staring across at a restaurant of some sort that had a large, pink, two-story building, along with a vast outside venue that surrounded it on all sides, littered with tables and chairs. At the front of a brick walkway leading from the main doors of the building was an arch with the words "_**Cafe de Mermaid" **_embroiled into it while being held up by two mermaids statues. There were a couple of girls outside in flashy outfits trying to draw people inside while a freckled girl with two braided ponytails dresses in a blouse and tie outfit was serving as the hostess at the open front doors and beyond that behind a desk not far from a staircase was a door leading into the kitchen.

But it was at that very moment when a girl with cat ears and a tail came out the door that Harpocrates saw the woman he was looking for, carrying a large number of pots and pans in her arms while dressed in a large blue apron and wearing a large hairnet with large beads of sweat streaking down her face.

Harpocrates couldn't help but smile at his luck, "Target located. Now how do I go about this?", he told himself before a light bulb went off in his head.

Beth adjusted the tie around her neck for the sixth time since starting her shift, still uncomfortable with it despite working at the cafe for a month now already. At the end of this month, she would be moved to the kitchen to help back there, and hopefully, she could get the dish-washing section with Risley so she would at least have someone to talk to. Though the country girl did find it quite odd that according to Arana and Millianna, Risley has been in the kitchen the whole time she had been working at the guild's cafe, and that's has been for a year now while she has been part of Mermaid Heel for two. She has never once been the hostess, one of the girls drawing the crowd in, or even a waiter, and the Vegetable Mage couldn't fathom why.

"Maybe she is just so good at washing dishes they decided to keep her back there", she shrugs as she looks down to fix her tie a seventh time when she suddenly notices that something was now blocking her sunlight. She looks up to see what it was and her breath got caught in her throat as her eyes widen.

Upstairs in the main office of the cafe, Kagura was crunching some numbers and going through the expenditure report for the month.

"Hmm, we need to raise the prices on those crepes or else Mama Basilisk is going to be furious at these numbers", she says to herself as she wrote something down with the pen in her hands.

While the cafe was a bustling source of income for the guild as well as a way of earning a little extra pocket change for its members, it was nothing compared to the main revenue of Mermaid Heel which was no doubt the various jobs they took on. In fact, the opportunity that arose for the guild to even form was the fall of Fairy Tail seven years ago. Their diminishing left a huge power vacuum and jobs were aplenty, especially in the area around Magnolia after the attack by Acnologia.

"_Perhaps too aplenty_", Kagura thought.

Guilds like Twilight Ogre and such were form along with Mermaid Heel to fill the void, as well as the now-famous Sabertooth going from obscurity to top guild in the country, pushing out such veterans like Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus in the process.

But for every new legal guild that arose, it seems a dark guild form to challenge it. Beforehand they were at a manageable level but now it was like every time one was destroyed another one appears to take its place and the Magic Council was having a hard time keeping up.

One such guild, Raven Tail, even somehow got rid of their dark status and were recognized by the Magic Council as legal; a matter that Mama Basilisk, Mermaid Heel's guild master, was still looking into.

Or she was whenever she wasn't trying to provoke a guild war with Quarto Cerberus, the guild's "eternal rival" as some of Kagura's more humorous comrades have declared. Rumor had it that the founder and current master of the all-male guild, Goldmine, was in a relationship with Mama Basilisk back in their younger days and it did not end well, but all that was just hearsay. The fact remains that the all-female guild and the all-male guild have been competing with each other for jobs ever since Mermaid Heel formed back in x784 and it was shaping up for them to hopefully finally settle the matter in Crocus this year.

"_But it would seem that a relic from the past may be arising once more", _Kagura told herself as she wrote down some more notes, "_Seeing how Fairy Tail once again has a dragon-slayer in its ranks."_

Kagura recalls discussing this subject with Arana and Millianna not too long ago; about how the son of Fairy Tail's current guild master was taken away by Acnologia the day he laid Magnolia to waste and then suddenly returned seven years later.

And he made quite the first impression in the short time he has been back. After defeating the top rookie in the country, Chelia Blendy, he then laid waste to the top mages in Twilight Ogre not too long afterward. He then apparently defeated a Blizzardvern alongside the sky god-slayer, and finally, he was able to hold his own against a top-rate assassin and swordsman, Ikaruga of Death's Head Caucus, until the Rune Knights arrive, even though he was also only able to do so because the same Lamia Scale's mage was aiding him.

"_And he is only thirteen", _Kagura kept on in her thoughts, "_The training Acnologia put him through must have been intense. Though also it seems that Chelia Blendy is always by his side whenever he faces a tough opponent."_

Still, though, dragon-slayer of the Dragon King or not, the boy was just one mage and he alone couldn't bring Fairy Tail back to the top spot they once held. Although he could easily make them rise up in ranks to at least mid-tier, especially if they do well at this year's Grand Magic Games.

"_Which begs the question; would the king even allow the boy or his guild to participate in the games at all?_

Kagura actually stops and ponders this for a moment. Would this Romeo individual be allowed to compete in this year's games if he wanted to? If he did, would there be an uproar?

The mage looks over at the sword, the Archenemy, that was resting on the desk next to her. She studies it for a while before simply shrugging and going back to her task.

Then without warning, she drops the pen on the page. She then found herself slowly turning toward the window that overlooks the front entrance to the cafe where she senses a nearly overpowering magical presence, but it almost felt like whoever it belong to was masking it, almost suppressing it and she probably wouldn't have felt it if it wasn't so close.

Within moments, she was across the room looking down at where Beth was manning the entrance with a large hooded figure in front of her, with a covered-up staff weapon strap to his back.

"How did he get past the greeters like that?", Kagura wonders as she grabs her sword and made her way downstairs.

"Um….Can-can-can", Beth stammers out as she stares up at the intimidating cloak man in front of her, her eyes more focus on the polearm than the man it was attached to.

"I believe the phrase you're looking for is "Can I help you", young lady", Harpocrates answers for her.

Beth snaps out of her trance, "Yeah that, can I help you, sir? Do you want a table?".

"That won't be necessary, Miss…..", Harpocrates started to say with a smile as he looks at the name tag on the girl's blouse, "Beth, I'm actually here because I'm looking for one of your mages that I believe is working here."

"And why exactly are you looking for one of our mages?", a voice says from behind Beth and both her and Harpocrates look to see Kagura standing on the staircase, her eyes looking the Third Gen up and down. Harpocrates' own eyes immediately glance over the sword she had in her hand.

"_The Blade of Resentment, Archenemy", _he tells himself, fully aware of the power the sword possesses and knew that whoever wields such a weapon like that must be a highly skilled swordsman.

Skill enough to cause him trouble, no; but definitely skilled enough to draw the Royal Family and Magic Council's attention in this town on him and Perses.

"_Now would not be a good time to cause a scene", _he told himself as he fought down the urge to grab his guandao.

"Well, we had a run-in this morning and I felt like we got off on the wrong foot. So I came here in hopes of making it up to her, that is if she is even here.", Harpocrates explains, taking the risk that the woman didn't tell any of them about what happened this morning in detail. Even though if she did and certain people weren't too happy about it, he had a back-up plan in place. Said back-up plan would involve a lot of severed limbs and blood everywhere, but it would get the job done.

Kagura moves off of the stairs and places herself across from Harpocrates, a sizable distance between them. Beth shrunk back a little as she could feel the tension in the air, mostly given off by the ace.

"I can arrange for you to see them but you must order something if you want to have a seat at a table until I do", Kagura tells him. "This is restaurant policy."

Harpocrates mentally chuckles, "_Someone obviously doesn't want me here. She must think I have no money on me."_

He takes out his bag of coin and holds it up in front of him, "What will this get me?", as he opens it up to show the contents of it causing Kagura's face to briefly show an expression of surprise before reverting back to its natural neutral state.

"Could get you the whole darn place from the looks of it", he heard Beth whisper behind him but he was more focused on the swordswoman in front of him reaction. He caught her eye slightly twitching as if she was annoyed by this whole situation for some reason.

"Very well, I can find you a table, but first you will have to take off your hood and relinquish your weapon", Kagura says as she holds out her hand, " Restaurant policy."

"Whatever you say, my lady", Harpocrates jokes and he reaches over his back to grab the top part of the shaft of his guandao and presents it to Kagura, placing it in her hand.

"Now be careful", he tells her while still holding it, "It's quite heavy".

He then let go of it and Kagura finds herself nearly plummeting to the floor, barely catching herself in time to keep the pole weapon and her hand from hitting the tile.

"Ugh!", she clenches her teeth and uses her strength to right herself back up, the weapon in hand, "_Feels like it weighs a ton!"_

She was still recovering from the effort when Harpocrates cough into his hand.

"Are you alright, ma'am?", catching the guild ace's attention.

Kagura focuses on him for a moment before looking back at his weapon in her hand and then back at him, "Ahem, I'm going to need you to take off you hood."

"If you insist", as he reaches his hand up to grab the garment, "Oh and by the way, the woman I'm looking for is..."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Risley was frantically working to get the dishes clean in time for the afternoon rush. The stack was already nearly above her head and the other two girls who were supposed to help her this shift were out on last-minute jobs that required their special magic and no replacements could be found.

Letting out a sigh, Risley figures that it was best that she stop dwelling on it and focus back on her work. She takes one hand out of the water with a plate in hand and held it up in front of her.

**_"Island Water Magic",_** she whispers, gathering her magic she took out the other one and a glob of dishwater comes out behind it, hovering just a few inches above her skin.

Reeling her hand above her head with the gob of water following it, Risley swings it across the plate, missing it by at least a quarter of a foot. But the mass of water did the same and it hit the plate head-on, taking scraps of food with it while doing so. Back and forth, she repeated this process until the plate was clean of any stains on it. She then places the plate on the growing stack and began to start the process anew with the next one.

"It would seem that you're doing just fine on your own, Pudgy", a haughty voice from behind calls out and Risley does her best to suppress the feeling of revulsion rising up in her at the sound of it. She looks over her shoulder to see a woman in her late twenties clothed in a violet qipao decorated in flowers. Her sky blue hair with down pass her shoulders pass her ample chest and to her tone stomach. Her brown eyes regarded Risley with a look of distaste and loathing all while her lips were curl up into an arrogant smirk. For a moment, she eyed the Mahawaiian before inspecting something underneath her long, blood-red, fingertips. She then went back to Risley.

"I'm actually quite surprised that you're even able to reach the sink with that fat belly of yours in the way", she chuckles.

"Hello, Jaskeria!", Risley said with a smile, "Wasn't expecting to see you back here!"

"Unfortunately, my duties as shift manager require me to inspect every inch of this establishment, including back here", the woman known as Jaskeria huffs before looking around, "Though it looks like I won't be able to do much in this area with your bloated body taking up all the space."

The plate in Risley's hand slightly cracks from the pressure she suddenly exerting on it but she kept her smile nonetheless.

"_She's just trying to get you riled up, Risley. Stand calm, you got this", _she told herself before speaking, "Well, I'll try to get out of your way as soon as possible."

"Hmm", Jaskeria merely says, "See that you do. Hearing your fat jiggle around all day makes me want to vomit."

It was no secret that Jaskeria detests Risley solely for the reason that her physique was way different compare to the rest of the one hundred and fifty mages at the guild. You think it would be because of her subpar magical levels but that was nowhere near the case. It was simply because she was a little bit bigger than the others. The woman even gave her the nickname "Pudgy" which other members of the guild who she wasn't on good terms with have taking to call her.

To be honest, if Risley knew she could beat Jaskeria in a fight and not get in trouble for it she would have punch in her teeth a long time ago. But seeing how the haughty woman in front of her was second not only in guild leadership, both also seniority and magical prowess to Kagura and Mama Basilisk, it seem unlikely that either was going to happen.

"_I wonder if the senior veterans at other guilds treat their younger members like this", _Risley thought to herself as she put the plate away right before the sound of someone running into the kitchen fills her ears.

"Risley? Risley, are you back here?", she hears Beth scream as the country girl comes sprinting around the corner, her face as red as her apple, and nearing hitting Jaskeria.

"Watch where you're going!", the guild veteran screeches as she deftly weaves out of the way.

"Sorry about that, Ms. Jaskeria!", Beth tells her after she came to a stop. She then started waving her arms in a frantic manner.

"Risley, you are not going to believe this! There's this really rich handsome fellow here right now and he gots all the girls, including our customers, going gaga over him!", she ranted, "Heck, even I got a little hot under the collar when I saw his face! Did I say he was rich? Pretty sure I did but oh boy he is loaded! And he had this big old-"

"Beth", Risley calls out, bringing her friend back down from the clouds, "Calm down. Breathe."

Beth did exactly as she was told and simmer down, taking a breath in the process, "Sorry about that."

"It's alright, but I have to be honest; we get rich and handsome guys here all the time. Our cafe is designed to attract them, especially in a wealthy city like this", Risley said as she went back to washing the dishes, pulling a plate out of the water even as Beth was still yapping on.

"That's true but this guy is really rich and really handsome, like in a mysterious sort of way and he's extremely polite!", the Vegetable Mage states, now catching Jaskeria's attention.

"How rich are we talking here?", she asks and Beth turns around to her.

"He has a huge bag of Pergrande golden coins!", she said, using her hands to empathize the size.

"Isn't their economy like way better than Fiore thus their money is worth way more?", Risley says off-handily though her thoughts were more concerning, "_There's no way he just can't from Pergrande. I heard they recently close their borders due to some incidents. He must have been out of his country for a while."_

"Ooooooooo", Jaskeria smiles as she starts stroking her chin, "Might have to go see this customer personally. I am the shift manager after all."

"Yeah, he paid for one cup of coffee with a single gold crown and said keep the change!", Beth started off again, the speed of the words coming out of her mouth get faster, "Do you have any idea how much that is?! That has to be the biggest tip ever in the history of tipping!"

"That's great and all, Beth, but what does it have to do with me? I mean, you're supposed to be manning the front door right now and yet you came back here to tell me all of this. Kagura is going to be mad if she finds out", Risley said as she pulls her hand back out of the sink, another mass of water following after it.

Beth then slaps herself upside the head, "That's what I came in here for! Kagura sent me to get you!"

"Why?", Risley wonder.

"Because that man is here to see you!", the youngest mage at Mermaid Heel answers.

A large splash could be heard as Risley losses concentration and the water she was controlling drops to the floor. She then snaps her neck at Beth who was looking at her with a flush face.

"Eh?", was all that the plump woman could say.

"Kagura sent me to come and get you because that rich, handsome, guy specifically asks for you, by name! Trust me, we couldn't believe it either! Kagura looked like a goldfish for a second with the way her mouth was open after he told us!", Beth said.

This time a loud shattering could be heard as Risley drop the plate in her hand.

"What?", both the Mahawaiian and Jaskeria said at the same time.

_**A/N: One more chapter after this. By the way, Pudgy is Risley's actual alias according to the wiki.**_


	6. Escort Service

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail_**

**_A/N: This is the last of the Rosetta's arc for now (Along with it being the last of an almost 23000-word update). The next few chapters will be dedicated back to Tenrou Island and Fairy Tail return home._**

**_I know I said it would take a few days from me to release all of these chapters, but the event I had scheduled to do got canceled, so here I am. This is the last of the update and I will now go climb my toughest mountain...Romeo's Rising._**

**_Now the reason I gave Risley new magic is that according to the official material, she learned Gravity Change from Kagura. Now here lies the question..._**

**_Did she learn from Kagura after she joined Mermaid Heel or before?_**

**_The most obvious answer would be after she joined so that begs another question._**

**_Did Risley have another type of magic prior to joining Mermaid Heel?_**

**_I feel like some guilds have a little bit more strict joining procedures in comparison to Fairy Tail, so I'm going to assume that yes, Risley did have another type of magic prior to joining because I'm sure you can't be in a magic guild if you don't know any magic. Porylusica is an exception as she is only a medical advisor and I doubt Lamia Scale was going to kick out Chelia once she lost her magic which she is now starting to get back._**

**_But since it's never covered in the canon, it is thus left up in the air on just what that magic was. Something that I have taken the liberty on expanding and molding it into Risley's backstory._**

**I would like to thank Tenryu no hoko for helping me plan out the plot for this and you should go check out their stories when you have the chance.**

**Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow if you want.**

**_Escort Service_**

A few minutes later, Risley finds herself making her way out of the kitchen and was greeted by the sight a large group of people mostly compromise of her fellow guild mages who were working at the cafe as well as a few of the customers, both female and male, looking out the windows into the venue.

"Look at his eyes! I didn't think you could have mismatch eyes like that but I could get lost in them forever!"

"Forget his eyes, look at his hair! So shiny and perfect!"

"You guys are crazy, look at the muscles on his arms! I heard Kagura had a hard time carrying whatever he brought with him to the backroom! Even had to use her magic to do so!"

"Best of all, he has a ton of money!"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Attractive guys with lots of money came to the cafe all the time but Risley has never seen the girls working here act like this. Through the masses, she spots Millianna and Arana and moves toward them.

"He is quite the looker", Arana states, "Way better than the average guys we get here."

"And he is so polite! I wonder if he likes cats!", Millianna added.

"What is going on here?", Risley asks as she got closer and both the girls turn around.

"Risley!", Arana screams as she rounds on her, "I thought we were friends!"

The dark-skinned mage gives her a baffled look, "We are friends", she said, "_You're one of the few friends I got at this guild."_

Arana points out the window, "Then why didn't you tell me you met a guy like that this morning?"

Risley takes a gander and finally spots the person everyone was going crazy over who was drinking from a cup. He looked like something straight out of a painting with his sculpted face along with his dark blue bangs that nearly covered his one blood red and one ocean blue eyes. He was wearing a tight-fitting sleeveless shirt which shows off a lean figure packed with muscles and chiseled to perfection, though faint resemblance of scars could be seen doting his body.

Risley found herself memorizes by the sight of the man and it wasn't until she felt someone shaking her from behind did she snap out of it. She turns around to see Kagura standing there with her arms cross with her trademark neutral expression while Beth fidgeting off to the side behind her.

"He is waiting to see you", the ace mage merely said as she looks down at Risley, "Treat him like you would any customer but I advise you be on your guard. And do it quickly so he can leave."

Risley looks down at herself and takes notice of her current condition. She still had on the dishwashing apron along with her extra large hair net. Due to all the sweating, she did from working back there, she smelled a little and quite frankly she looks a quiet disheveled.

In other words, she was a mess.

"I think I should change first before I go out there", Risley suggested.

Kagura holds out a gold coin directly in Risley's face.

"He paid for a single cup of coffee with this. He should have gotten ten of thousands of jewels back in change but he told us to keep it. Take five minutes to get clean up, but don't keep our "esteem" guest waiting", she said.

"She should also change into her slimmer form", a voices come from behind Beth and now everyone turns to see Jaskeria standing there with her arms across, only unlike Kagura she had a vexing look on her face.

"Why would she need to do that?", Kagura asks her fellow guild veteran, clearly annoyed at her presence. The two of them were among the five mages, The Sirens, as they were called, who help Mama Basilisk start Mermaid Heel seven years ago. It also meant they held the title as two of the five strongest mages in the guild Kagura and Jaskeria respectively filling the number one and number two spot.

"Isn't it obvious? We don't want such a high paying customer to be driven off by her grotesque form. Mama Basilisk wouldn't like it if such a person decided not to come back here because of that", Jaskeria explains.

Kagura regards with a glare and Jaskeria returns it. Suddenly Risley, Millianna, Beth, and Arana could feel the tension in the air between the two of them, and they were almost smothered by it. There was a lot of speculation that the two of them didn't like one another and that Kagura barely considered Jaskeria a comrade. On the other hand, it was no secret that Jaskeria coveted the wielder of the Archenemy position as the guild's ace for she felt that using a weapon as a mage was disgraceful as to her it was a sign of a weak magic practitioner.

"_W__hoa, all of this over whether or not I should use my slimmer form__", _Risley thought bitterly. While yes, that form gave her a great advantage in combat along with her other native abilities, she wasn't too keen on using it outside of a fight. It just didn't feel natural. But these thoughts went away as another rose to the surface of her mind.

"_This can't be the same guy I met this morning, could it?"_

Despite being in the outside venue, almost every table was filled up to its capacity, except the ones in Harpocrates' immediate vicinity, mostly by men who were more than likely around the same age as him. No doubt they came not only for the assortment of food the cafe provide but to interact with the number of female mages that were employed here. If one was to go off of their redden face, sweaty foreheads, and heart-shaped eyes, one would think they were under a trance.

None of this matter to the Third Gen though, he was only here because he had to be in order to fulfill the task given to him. Besides women, no manner how attractive they were, didn't further his Lord's goal, so he had no use for them.

Now Perses, on the other hand, highly valued women, at least their bodies anyway. Surprisingly, about a year ago, Harpocrates found out that the Second Gen, despite his brutish and violent nature, has never forced himself onto a woman. It wasn't because he had some strong moral code or was particularity against it. He even said that when he has come across such scenes, he kept moving because it was none of his business. Moreover, in his own words regarding the subject...

"_I__t's no fun if I have to take it from them, ruins the experience. I__t would be like going to the marketplace instead of hunting for my food.__ Plus, if they struggle, that's more work for me now because now I have to waste energy holding them. __On top of all that, I would have to dispose of the body…_", or something along those lines. Harpocrates wasn't really paying much attention to him that day.

Strangely enough, though, Harpocrates also found out that despite Perses' tendency to repeatedly indulge in brothels, girls on the corner, and tavern wrenches, he has rarely had to pay them afterward. More than a couple of times, they've paid him. Because of this, Perses has been "ban" from at least half the brothels he has visited.

"Ahem", someone coughs across the table from him and Harpocrates internally belittles himself for letting his mind wander and thus his guard down while he was sitting in the open like this. Putting such thoughts aside for now he turns his attention to the person in front of him and was slightly taken aback by them.

Standing before him was a woman who was wearing identical clothing to the one he met earlier but where Harpocrates was expecting a plump woman he got a skinny one instead.

"Um, I'm sorry, miss", Harpocrates started, "Can I help you with something?"

...

"Didn't you come here to see me?", the lady asks.

The Third-Gen raises an eyebrow at this before taking a sniff of the air around him. He suspected Transformation Magic might be at work here, but while the most advanced style of it may be able to fool the eyes and ears, it can't fool the nose as a person's distinct scent stays the same no matter what.

"Risley Law?", he questions once he realizes that the lady in front of him smells exactly like the one he met this morning.

The woman nods.

"Huh, you are much different than what I encounter in your garden this morning", he states while preparing himself for what was to come

He watches as her eyes widen in shock for a moment before narrowing in anger as she slams a fist on the table and points an accusing finger at him.

"You! You're the guy from this morning!", she shouts and a quick glance all around tells Harpocrates that the angry woman's fellow mages were now paying more attention to him than they were before. But nevertheless, he holds his hands up in an attempt to ease the situation.

"First of all, my name is Harpocrates", the Third Gen started, "And I realize that we got off on the wrong foot earlier today which is why I came here to properly apologizes to you. I felt my previous one wasn't sincere enough. Plus, I also feel that we can reach a comprise of sorts that will benefit us both."

Risley's anger instantly deflated upon hearing these words and they leave her momentarily confused.

"Huh?"

"But before I get to that though, I have to ask about this new form of yours", Harpocrates says, "I wasn't aware that you could perform this."

Risley takes a moment to speak, instead just deciding to look Harpocrates straight in his eyes, "It's done through my Gravity Change magic."

"_That's something. Master Biilet will be interested in this piece of information", _he thought, "So you basically compress your body mass."

"_Wow, he didn't even use the word "fat" like most people would have", _Risley thought, "What is it to you? Do you like this form over my other one?"

"As I told you before Miss Law, a person's physique doesn't matter to me, but if it's all the same to you, I would prefer to talk to you in the form I first met you in", Harpocrates admits.

For the second time in less than five minutes, Risley found herself at a loss for words though her mind was a different matter.

"_Wow, this day is just full of surprise and this man __is too__. Alright then, I might as well listen to what he has to say", _Risley thought as she releases her magic and returns to her original form as her belly pops out along with the rest of her body expanding. She takes a seat across from him but winches as the chair let out an audible groan as she presses down on it and she realizes that she was going to have a hard time laying her arms on the table with her stomach in the way pressing on the edge of it. She looks over at Harpocrates, expecting the typical reaction she usually got from the men of this continent whenever something like this happens, but to her surprise, his expression remains the same.

"_What a strange fellow", _she thought.

"First off, let me state that I'm truly sorry for what occurred this morning", he started out, lowering his voice as he did for he had the distinct suspicion that certain people were listening in on their conversation, "That was your little private garden and it was wrong for me to just come in and listen to you sing without your consent, no matter how lovely of a singing voice you have."

"Is it me or is Risley blushing all of a sudden?", Arana asks from her position at the window to Millianna and Beth.

"She's redder than a barnyard with a fresh coat of paint", Beth says while Millianna nods. Kagura on the other hand kept silent, her eyes glued on Harpocrates.

"W-well", Risley stammer out while fanning herself with her hand, suddenly feeling quite warm despite the cool breeze as she was not used to such compliments, especially from a guy, "Seeing how you came all this way plus it seems that you were sincere about everything you said earlier, I guess I can forgive you. My father always taught me that those who are willing to apologize are worth forgiving."

Harpocrates smiles, "I'm happy to hear that. Your father sounds like a smart man."

"Didn't you say you had something else you wanted to talk me about, Har-Harocraotes?", Risley said, hoping to change the subject.

"It's Harpocrates and yes I do", he corrects her, "You see I'm here in Rosetta for the week on business for my lord, but the people I need to see I can't meet them until the evening as their schedules are full during the day. Thus I appear to have most of the daylight hours to myself and I would like to explore the city."

Risley tilts her head in confusion, "Um, don't mean to be rude, but what that does have to do with me?"

"I'm assuming you have been living in this city for a while now, correct?", Harpocrates asks.

"Eh, going on two years", Risley admits.

"_That's a long time away from the islands for a Mahawaiian", _Harpocrates thought as he picks up on a presence coming toward the table, "So that means you know the layout of this place, right?"

Risley shrugs, "More or less."

"Then I was hoping that you could be my escort while I'm here and I assure you that you would be compensated for your services.", Harpocrates states.

Risley could feel her face heated up even more at the mention of that word and she found herself having a hard time breathing. Despite her not being from this part of the world, she has been living here long enough to know what an escort was and exactly what services they provided, but she just couldn't believe that this fellow was proposing such an idea to her.

"_So forward! What does he take me for?", _she thought before speaking, "Um, I, um, are we on the same page here on what you're asking me to do?"

"Hmm? I'm merely asking you to show me around the city and afterward-", Harpocrates says before turning around to greet the person who just arrived at their table.

"Absolutely out of the question", Kagura says while staring down at him, disgusted that this man would even suggest such a thing. She should strike him down right here and now, but that would be a lot of explaining she would have to do to Mama Basilisk on why she committed a murder in the middle of the guild's cafe, or that is what she told herself.

Plus, at the very least, he hasn't exactly broken any laws.

"Oh, is there a reason why she can't?", Harpocrates asks, his eyes every now and then shifting toward the Archenemy in Kagura's left hand.

"You mean besides the obvious?", Kagura spat, "Well if you must know, Risley not only has to work the cafe but she also has a guild job tomorrow she needs to do in order to pay her rent", Kagura says as she looks over at the Mahawaiian, "Plus, she would not lower herself for your sic-"

"You work the cafe and do guild jobs in between?", Harpocrates asks, brushing off Kagura, "Truly remarkable."

"I manage somehow", Risley says.

"So as you can see, Risley is unable to complete your request. Now seeing how your business here is concluded-", Kagura starts back up again.

"Then can you be my escort for the rest of the day at the very least?", Harpocrates asks, completely ignoring Kagura for the second time in under half a minute. He has made some progress so far and he was not about to disappoint Master Biilet because this woman didn't like his presence.

"Sorry, but I'm still on shift here for the rest of the day", Risley tells him trying to remain calm despite the man's persistence, "_He is not letting up. The city guard may have to get involve for harassment." _

Harpocrates merely nods before reaching into his bag and pulling out ten gold coins and offering them to Kagura, "Will this cover her shift for the rest of the day?"

Audible gasps could be heard all around as even Kagura was surprised by the gesture. Risley was no doubt the most shock of all as her jaw hit the table.

"_One hundred thousand __jewels?! For me?! Wait a minute, what am I saying?! I'm not that type of woman!"_

The sound of rapid footsteps approaching draws Harpocrates' attention to a blue-haired woman swiftly walking toward the table, stopping next to Kagura once she arrived.

"Hello, Mr. Harpocrates, was it?", she asks with a wide smile only to get a nod in return, "I'm Jaskeria Willow, the current manager here at the cafe."

"How do you do?", the Third Gen already annoyed by the aura this new woman was giving off.

"I'm well, anyway, unfortunately, Risley here is our only person here today in her position so we can't afford to let her go", Jaskeria says, "But if you are looking for someone to "escort" around the city, I am more than willing to help you."

"You are on shift as well", Kagura reminded her as she throws her a look of disgust.

"You can take over for me."

"That defeats the entire purpose", Kagura says as the two of them look like they were about to descend into an argument right then and there.

This prompts Harpocrates to pull out ten more gold coins and present them to the duo.

"Thank you for the offer, Miss Willows, but I will have to decline. Will twenty gold coins cover it for Miss Law to be excused from work?", he interrupts and both of the women look down at the coin in his hand before looking at him, Kagura keeping her emotionless expression but Jaskeria was straight gawking. Risley on the other hand looks like she was about to faint.

"Two hundred thousand jewels just so you can take Pudgy here and fuck her?! Are you a chubby chaser or something?!".

"Jaskeria!", Kagura calls her guildmate out, spiking her magic to make sure she knew that she was way out of line with that comment. While nearly everyone else in the general vicinity instantly back away, falling out of chairs and tripping over one another to do so, Harpocrates remain in place, a slightly raised eyebrow the only indication that he was surprised by this notion. Risley was a whole different story, wondering how she was at the center of all this commotion.

Jaskeria took the cue and quietly back away from the table, not wanting to escalate the situation any further. As she turns and left, Kagura instantly looks back at Harpocrates.

"My humblest apologies", she said, "That was uncalled for no matter what the circumstances", she said before realizing just said, "_Why am I apologizing to him?"_

"It quite alright", Harpocrates tells her.

"Though I'm still going to have to ask you to leave", Kagura then stated.

"All because I want Miss Law to be my tour guide around the city?", Harpocrates says and both Kagura and Risley stare at him for a moment before looking at each other and then back at him.

"You want Risley to show you around Rosetta?", Kagura asks.

"That's what I said", Harpocrates answers.

"And that's it?", Risley questions.

"Well, what else would I do...", Harpocrate said before a memory played in his head and he remembers back to another discussion he had with Perses.

"Oooooooooh, I am starting to see where everyone is getting the wrong conclusion", Harpocrates starts to say, mentally kicking himself in the head for once again getting his words mixed up. It was this very thing that got him and Perses in trouble in Iceberg with the Ice God Slayer, " You see where I come from, escort service means someone who takes you around the area and shows you the sights and the history, like a tour guide. But the fact that I was offering her a large amount of money could easily be seen as me soliciting her for prostitution."

Kagura stares at him once more, "Do you have such intentions for her?"

"Of course not, my lord frowns on such behavior and would not take too kindly the fact that I'm spending the coin he gave to me on such frivolous endeavors", Harpocrates explains as Risley breathes a sigh of relief.

"_Oh, thank the Island Gods who provide us with the breeze, the sun, and the sea", _she thought.

"But seeing how we got that all out of the way", Harpocrates states as he once more presented the twenty gold coins to Kagura, "Will this get her the rest of the day off?'

Kagura eyes the money intently, a thousand thoughts running through her head.

"_This would easily cover a good amount of our expenses for the rest of the month. That alone would put Mama Basilisk at ease if only a little", _she thought before snatching it out of his hand. She then looks over at Risley.

"You are off for the rest of the day", she told her, "But you still got the job tomorrow."

"But what about the dishwashing?", Risley asks.

"I will move some of the waiters back there to cover", Kagura said before simply walking away,

"I would like to have my weapon back please before I depart, Miss Kagura", Harpocrates calls out to her.

"You can pick it up at the front door when you depart", Kagura calls out over her shoulder right before entering the building.

Risley was now alone with Harpocrates and the two of them stare at each other in silence for a moment.

"Now let me apologizes once again for the earlier misunderstanding with my words. I realize it must have been embarrassing for you", Harpocrates says.

Risley found herself laughing quite loudly at this, "No worries, no worries! Like you said it was all just a misunderstanding!", as she scratches the back of her head and waves her hand.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to, but as I promise, you will be compensated for your services", the slayer replies before placing a hand on his chin, " Hmmm, I should probably stop using that word, but you get what I mean", the Third Gen said, breaking the tension between them, "I just need someone to show me around town while I wait to do my business and quite frankly, you're the only one I seem to know despite our initial meeting."

Risley thought about the offer for a moment before speaking, "How much are you paying?"

Harpocrates did his best not to smile; it was so easy to get people to do what you want whenever money was involved. He looks up at the sky and the placement of the sun.

"It's a little bit past noon. I don't have to meet my associate until a little bit after nightfall; how about one gold coin an hour?", he offers.

Risley starts having a coughing fit, "That's seven coins!"

"Yes, and that equivalents to seventy thousand jewels; I'm quite good with my math, Miss Law. So will you do it?", he asks, a small part of him hoping that she would simply say yes. He would dislike it if he had to have to resort to "alternate means" of completing Master Biilet's assignment, especially for someone who has not wronged him or his lord in any way and were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I have to be a fool to turn down easy money.", Risley says with a smile, "_Along with my job tomorrow, I would have some spending money left over after I paid my rent. I might actually be able to buy a few things to spruce up my place!"_

"Wonderful", Harpocrates says.

"So where do you want to go to first?", she asks him.

Meanwhile, inside the main office at a window that overlooks the venue, Kagura was watching the whole scene with her arms cross. She keeps her gaze on Harpocrates as the man and Risley got up from the table and made their way to the reception stand, no doubt to pick up his weapon.

"_I had to use a little bit of my Gravity Change magic just to carry that thing. On top of that, when I spiked my magic, he was the only one unfazed by it despite being the closest one to me", _she thought, "_He__ is no ordinary man __and yet I felt no malice coming from him whatsoever while I was talking to him. Either he is truly sincere about what he wants Risley for or he is just good at masking his true intentions."_

"Um, Kagura", a voice says from behind her and the ace turns her head back slightly to see Arana standing with baffle expression on her face. Beth and Millianna were also there on her left and right.

"What is it?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but why did you call us up here?", Arana asks, "We have to get back to work."

"You three are taking the rest of the day off and coming with me", Kagura says, prompting the girls to exchanges looks at one another.

"Um, might I ask why?", Arana asks.

"Because you three are Risley's best friends in the guild, therefore you care for her the most and will do what I am about to ask without question."

All three girls stood silent as Kagura turn around and walk toward them from the window, stopping just a few feet away from them.

"We are going to follow Risley and that Harpocrates fellow. He is definitely more than meets the eye and we're going to make sure he doesn't try anything with her. Should the worst come to pass, I will need your unique magics in taking him down."

**_A/N: As you could probably guess, Harpocrates isn't as socially aware as Perses and Romeo are. Also, trust me, you will come to hate every fiber of Jaskeria's being, I promise you._**


End file.
